*B    5M2   1M1 


Sept.  3RD. 
1639  -  1889 


m. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/celebrationoftwoOOyarmrich 


THE   CKhKB^/KTlOJi 


OF  THE  — 


TWO  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY 


OF   THE 


FOUNDING   OF 


OBD  X/IRMOUTH, 

MASS, 

INCLUDING  THE   PRESENT   TOWNS  OF  YARMOUTH   RND  DENNIS. 

SEPTEMBER  1  AND  3, 
1889. 


YARMOUTH)  tA(U4  > 
Published  by  the  Committee. 
1889. 


PRESS   OF    FRED.  HALLETT, 
YARMOUTHPORT,  MASS. 

LOAN  STACK 


YzA3 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Preliminaries,       ------  7 

Anniversary  Hymn,  -           -           -  -           -           -14 

Abstract  of  Church  History,    -           -  -           -           15 

Church  Celebration,  -           -                 •  -           -           -     16 

Historical  Sermon,          -                       -  -           -           19 

Words  of  Welcome,  -           -  '         -  -           -           -     35 

Address  of  Greeting,       -           -           -  -           -           36 

Address  of  Mr.  Joshua  C.  Howes,  -           -           -     40 

Address  of  Capt.  T.  P.  Howes,           -  -           -44 

Address  of  Rev.  Geo  W.  Osgood,  -  -           -           -     49 

Address  of  Rev.  L.  P.  Atwood,  51 

Address  of  Rev.  C.  A.  Bradley,      -  -           -           -     53 

Letter  from  Rev.  A.  K.  Packard,  55 

Letter  from  Rev.  Jos.  B.  Clark,     -  -           -           -     56 

Town  Celebration,           -----  58 

Prayer  of  Rev.  John  W.  Dodge,    -  -           -           -     62 

Oration  of  Philip  Howes  Sears,  Esq.,  -           -           64 

Original  Hymn  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Dodge,  -           -           -     82 

Antiquarian  Exhibition,            -           -  -           -           83 

Dinner,              -           -           -           -  -           -           -84 


PAGE. 

President  Thacher's  Address,  85 

Lieut.  Governor  Brackett's  Address,       -  -           -     85 

Treasurer  Marden's  Address,  -           -           -  -           88 

Mr.  Hardy's  Address,          -           -           -  -           -     90 

Dr.  Taylor's  Address, 92 

Mr.  Crapo's  Address,           -           -           -  -           -     98 

Poem  by  Mrs.  Mary  M.  Bray,            -           -  -         100 

Address  by  ReY.  J.  W.  Dodge,        -  106 

Capt.  Thomas  P.  Howes's  Address,  -  110 

Judge  Darius  Baker's  Address,     -           -  -           -    112 

Dr.  Thatcher  Thayer's  Letter,  -  112 

Reception  and  Ball,              -           -           -  -           -    114 

Views  in  Yarmouth  and  Dennis,        -           -  -         117 

Appendix,  Report  of  the  Committee,  1890,  -           -   147 


PRELIMINARIES. 

The  town  of  Yarmouth  included  within  its  limits 
until  1794  all  that  is  now  comprised  in  the  two  towns  of 
Yarmouth  and  Dennis.  It  is  the  founding  of  the  old  town, 
so  described,  that  it  was  proposed  to  celebrate  and  is  hence 
called  in  this  memorial  —  Old  Yarmouth. 

In  the  warrant  of  the  annual  town  meeting  to  be  held 
February  11,  1889,  appeared  the  following  articles : 

"To  see  if  the  town  will  raise  a  sum  of  money  not  to 
exceed  one  thousand  dollars  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  celebration  of  its  in- 
corporation." 

"To  see  if  the  town  will  appoint  a  committee  of 
arrangements,  with  full  power  to  carry  out  all  the  necessary 
plans  for  this  celebration,  the  expenses  not  to  exceed  the 
sum  appropriated." 

At  the  town  meeting  held  on  the  above  date  the  town 
voted  almost  unanimously  to  appropriate  the  sum  named,  for 
such  a  celebration,  and  appointed  a  committee  of  ten 
citizens  with  full  powers  to  act,  viz. : 

Henry  C.  Thacher,  Rev.  John  W.  Dodge, 

Daniel  Wing,  John  Simpkins, 

Charles  M.  Bray,  Charles  F.  Swift, 

Barnabas  C.  Howes,  John  K.  Sears, 

Thacher  T.  Hallet,  Stephen  Wing. 

At  the   first  meeting   of  the   committee,  held  March  12, 
Elkanah  Crowell  was   elected    a  member  of  the  committee; 


8 

Henry  C.  Thacher  was  chosen  chairman ;  Charles  F.  Swift 
and  Elkanah  Crowell,  vice  chairmen  ;  Daniel  Wing,  secre- 
tary, and  Thacher  T.  Hallet,  treasurer;  Messrs.  J.  Mont- 
gomery Sears  and  Nathan  Matthews  of  Boston  were  voted 
members  of  the   executive    committee. 

It  was  voted  to  extend  a  cordial  invitation  to  Dennis  to 
join  us  in  our  celebration  in  this  town. 

Although  it  was  not  deemed  best  by  the  citizens  of 
Dennis  to  unite  in  a  corporate  capacity  in  the  celebration, 
leading  citizens  of  that  town  entered  with  enthusiasm  in- 
to the  undertaking  and  at  once  came  forward  guarantee- 
ing the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  towards  defraying 
the  share  of  Dennis  in  the  expenses  of  the  celebration. 

At  a  meeting  held  March  22,  the  following  gentlemen 
were  selected  to  represent  Dennis  on  the  general  committee* 
viz. : 

Joshua  C.  Howes,  Thomas  P.  Howes, 

Obed  Baker,  3rd,  James  S.  Howes, 

Luther  Fisk,  Watson    F.  Baker, 

Luther  Hall,  Joshua  Crowell, 

Henry  H.  Sears,  David  Fisk, 

Edwin  Baxter,  Samuel  S.  Baker, 

Warren  Snow,  T.  T.  Nickerson, 

Dr.  Sam'l  Crowell,  Dorchester,   F.  M.  Swift, 
P.  H.  Sears,  Boston,  F.  B.  Tobey,  Chicago, 

E.  H.  Cole,  Brooklyn. 

At  a  meeting  held  April  11,  Edward  Lewis,  Freeman 
Howes,  William  P.  Davis  and  Dr.  Thomas  B.  Pulsifer  were 
added  to  the  general  committee. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  general  committee  held  May  2,  the 
following  sub-committees  were  chosen  : 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

Henry  C.  Thacher,     .  C.  F.  Swift, 

T.  T.  Hallet,  David  Fisk, 

Elkanah  Crowell,  Luther  Hall, 


9 

LOCATION,  HALLS,  ETC. 

E.  D.  Payne,  Freeman  Howes,  Seth  H.  Hamblin,  D.  B. 
Crocker,  Charles  Goodspeed. 

RECEPTION. 

Fred  C.  Swift,  Obed  Baker,  3rd,  Cyrus  Hall,  (Dennis), 
George  T.  Thacher,  C.  M.  Underwood,  Stephen  Sears, 
Isaac  Myrick,  C.  S.  Knowles. 

LITERARY   EXERCISES. 

Thomas  P.  Howes,  C.  F.  Swift,  Rev.  J.  W.  Dodge,  Henry 
G.  Crowell,  Louis  B.  Thacher,  Henry  H.  Sears. 

DINNER. 

D.  D.  Kelley,  T.  T.  Hallet,  Luther  Fisk,  Sylvanus 
Evans,  I.  B.  Hall,  Sturges  Crowell,  E.  B.  Hallett. 

PROCESSION. 

John  Simpkins,  T.  C.  Thacher,  James  F.  Howes,  E.  W. 
Eldridge,  Charles  R.  Howes,  S.  F.  Baker. 

MUSIC. 

Charles  B.  Corey,  Joseph  W.  Hall,  W.  N.  Stetson, 
S.  S.  Baker,  A.  H.  Eldridge,  2d,  F.  G.  Hall,  Mrs.  Paul  F. 
Sears,  Mrs.  B.  S.  Sears,  Miss  Kate  W.  Matthews. 

ANTIQUARIAN    EXHIBITION. 

Thomas  Matthews,  Rev.  G.  I.  Ward,  Darius  Crowell, 
Luther  Hall,  Stephen  Wing,  W.  F.  Baker,  Mrs.  Wm.  J. 
Davis,  Miss  Maria  Matthews. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

T.  W.  Swift,  E.  C.  Matthews,  A.  B.  Chase,  2d. 

POLICE. 

Charles  M.  Bray,   Seth  Taylor,  T.  F.  Drew,  John  Small, 
R.  H.  Hefler. 

PRINTING. 

Daniel  Wing,  F.  M.  Swift,  C.  W.  Swift. 

DECORATIONS. 

Charles  Thacher,  2d,  Samuel  H  Thacher,  Joshua  Sears, 
Dr.  H.  Q.  Brigham,  John  G.  Thacher,  Miss  Ruth  Simpkins, 
Mrs.  E.  D.  Payne,  Mrs.  Watson  Thacher,  Miss  Ruth  G. 
Brav. 


10 

SPORTS. 

Edward  F.  Pierce,  W.  J.  Davis,  Edwin  C.  Brown,  0. 
Ritchie  Simpkins,  Paul  F.  Sears,  James  H.  Davidson,  B.  L. 
Baker,  H.  D.  Loring. 

FIRE   WORKS. 

Alfred  Gorham,  H.  H.  Sears,  T.  T.  Nickerson. 

BALL. 

John  Simpkins,  H.  H.  Fisk,  Samuel  S.  Baker,  Charles 
W.  Swift,  A.  C.  Snow,  D.  W.  Sears. 

AUDITORS. 

Elkanah  Crowell,  J.  C.  Howes,  W.  J.  Davis. 

Luther  Hall  and  Luther  Fisk  were  chosen  as  vice  chair- 
men on  the  part  of  Dennis. 

The  Committee  made  the  following  appointments  for 
the  day  of  celebration : 

PRESIDENT, 

Henry  C.  Thacher. 

CHIEF    MARSHAL, 

John  Simpkins. 

CHAPLAINS, 

Rev.  John  W.  Dodge,     (at  the  church.) 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Taylor,  D.  D.     (at  the  tent.) 

ORATOR. 

Philip   H.  Sears. 

POETESS. 

Mrs.  Thomas  C.  Bray. 
Miss  Gertrude    Alger  was   invited   to  write  a  hymn  for 
the  occasion,  but  being  unable   to  do  so  by  reason  of  illness, 
Rev.  John  W.  Dodge  was  requested  to  perform  that  service- 
The  chief  Marshal  chose  the  following  aids  : 
Edmund  W.  Eldridge. 
Thomas  C.  Thacher. 
The  following  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  and 
publish  a  full  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  celebration,  viz.: 
Henry  C.  Thacher,  Rev.  J.  W.  Dodge,  Elkanah  Crowell, 
Daniel  Wing,  Thomas  P.  Howes. 


11 

The  date  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town  was  Sept.  3, 
1639,  O.  S.  Eleven  days  would  need  to  be  added  to  make 
the  corresponding  date  in  N.  S.,  but  the  committee  decided 
that  as  this  was  to  be  an  old  style  celebration  they  would  ad- 
here to  the  original  day,  and  fixed  for  the  occasion  Sept.  3, 
1889. 

Invitations  were  extended  to  the  State  government,  to  our 
representative  in  Congress  from  this  District,  and  to  the 
Cape  Cod  Association  of  Boston. 

The  following  official  form  of  invitation  was  widely 
sent  to  natives  of  the  town  and  others  : 

Yarmouth  Quarter-Millenial  Celebration. 
1639  1889 

The  town  of  Yarmouth,  together  with  the  inhabitants 
of  Dennis  (which  was  formerly  a  part  of  Yarmouth)  proposes 
to  celebrate  on  the  third  day  of  September  next,  the  two 
hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  incorporation.  In 
behalf  of  old  Yarmouth,  we  hereby  extend  to  all  of  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  her  original  jurisdiction  a  cordial  in- 
vitation to  be  present  and  participate  in  the  festivities  of  the 
occasion. 

For  the   committee   on  invitations, 

Daniel  Wing,  Chairman. 
Yarmouth,  July  12,  1889. 


The  following  announcement  for  the  exercises  of  the 
day  was  made  in  the  papers  by  the  executive  committee: 

OLD  YARMOUTH 

QUARTER-MILLENIAL 

CELEBRATION. 

The  250th  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  Old  Yar- 
mouth, comprising  the  present  towns  of  Yarmouth  and 
Dennis,  will  be  appropriately  observed  on 

Tuesday,  September  3,  1889. 


12 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  special  train  from  Boston, 
about  10  o'clock  A.  M.,  a  procession  will  form  at  railroad 
avenue,  and  proceed  to  the  First  Congregational  church, 
where  an 

HISTORICAL  ADDRESS 

will  be  delivered  by  Philip  Howes  Sears,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  and 
other  appropriate  exercises  will  occur.  These  exercises  are 
open  to  the  public. 

A   DINNER 

will  be  served  in  a  tent  north  of  the  school  house,  by  an  ex- 
perienced caterer,  to  which  tickets  are  on  sale  in  the  various 
villages  and  in  Boston,  after  which  speeches  will  be  expected 
from  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  His  Honor  the  Lieutenant 
Governor,  Hon.  John  E.  Sanford,  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor,  Hon.  W. 
W.  Crapo,  Hon.  George  A.  Marden,  Rev.  John  W.  Dodge, 
Hon.  Charles  S.  Randall,  Capt.  Thomas  P.  Howes  and  others 
to  be  announced.     A  series  of 

OUT   DOOR   SPORTS 

will  be  provided  and  fire  works  in  the  evening. 

A  BALL 

will  be  given  in  the  evening  at  the  Nobscuseett  House, 
Dennis. 


As  the  founding  of  the  First  Congregational  church  was 
coeval  with  the  settlement  of  the  town,  and  the  ten  existing 
religious  societies  are  in  some  sense  offshoots  from  it,  it  was 
deemed  best  to  observe  its  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary in  connection  with  the  town  celebration.  Accordingly, 
the  following  invitation  was  sent  to  each  of  the  churches 
within  the  limits  of  the  old  town  : 

"You  are  cordially  invited  to  unite  with  us  in  celebrat- 
ing the  Quarter  Millenial  Anniversary  of  the  First  Church 
in  Old  Yarmouth  on  Sunday,  September  1.  At  the  morning 
service  there  will  be  a  Historical  discourse,  followed  by  the 
Communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  At  3  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  there  will   be   a   second  service  and  responses  to 


13 

greetings  will  be  expected  from  invited  churches  of 
Yarmouth  and  Dennis.  A  collation  will  be  served  in  the 
vestry  at  noon." 

Fraternally  Yours, 

John  W.  Dodge,  Pastor, 
Samuel  Thachee, 
Edward  B.  Hallett, 
E.  Dexter  Payne, 

Isaac  B.  Gage. 

Committee, 

Yarmouth,  August,  12,  1889. 

The  invitation  was  cordially  accepted,  and  the  follow- 
ing programme  of  exercises  was  prepared  by  the  committee  : 

1639  the  1889 

QUARTER-MILLENIAL 

ANNIVERSARY 

OF  THE 

FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH 

OF 

YARMOUTH  MASS. 
sept.  1,  1889. 


PROGRAMME. 

Morning  service  at  a  quarter  to  11  o'clock. 
Anthem  and  Doxology. 
Invocation. 
Responsive  Reading  of  the  107th  Psalm. 
Gloria  Patri. 
Scripture  Selections. 
Prayer,  Rev.  J.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  of  Boston. 
Hymn,  216  Sabbath  Hymns, 
"O  God  of  Bethel  by  whose  hand,"  etc. 
Historical  Sermon,  by  the  Pastor,  Rev.  John  W.  Dodge. 
Hymn,  1115,  "O  God,  beneath  thy  guiding  hand." 
Lord's  Supper. 


14 

Rev.  Dr.  Taylor  and  the  Pastor  officiating. 
Hymn,  1055. 
Benediction. 
Collation  served  at  half  past  1  P.  M.  in  the  vestry. 
Afternoon  service  at  3  o'clock. 
Organ  Voluntary. 
Anthem. 
Prayer,  by  Rev.  C.  A.  Bradley. 
Singing  by  a  Quartette. 
Welcome  by  the  Pastor. 
Greetings  by  the  Mother  church,  extended  by  Rev.  Jeremiah 
Taylor,  D.  D. 

ANNIVERSARY  HYMN. 

BY  REV.   JOEL  S.   IVES. 


God  of  our  Fathers,  here  we  raise 
Our  grateful  hearts  in  joyful  praise ; 
Thy  hand  hath  led  us  hitherto, 
Thy  hand  shall  lead  the  journey  through. 

Two  hundred  years  and  fifty  more 
Since  there  arose  by  yonder  shore 
This  ancient  church ;  she  lives  to-day, 
Though  centuries  have  rolled  away. 

The  story  of  her  hopes  and  fears, 
Her  struggles,  victories,  prayers  and  tears 
We  tell  to-day.    The  bright'ning  page 
Unfolds  our  goodly  heritage. 

Faith,  hope  and  love  can  never  die  ; 
Recorded  are  her  vows  on  high. 
Unnumbered  souls — a  glorious  throng- 
Are  witness  to  our  prayer  and  song. 

Hail  Ancient  Church !  Lift  high  thy  voice ! 
Through  centuries  yet  to  come,  rejoice ! 
The  Church  Triumphant  waits,  and  we 
Shall  join  the  immortal  company. 

Responses  by  Representatives  of  Invited  Churches. 
Reading  of  Letters,  etc. 


15 

Hymn  1116.    Sabbath  Hymns. 

k<0  Lord  oar  Fathers  oft  have  told,"  etc. 

Benediction. 


ABSTRACT  OF  HISTORY. 


CHURCH   FOUNDED   1639. 


PASTORS 

Rev.  Marmaduke  Matthews, 
Rev.  John  Miller, 
Rev  Thomas  Thornton, 
Rev.  John  Cotton, 
Rev.  Daniel  Greenleaf, 
Rev.  Thomas  Smith, 
Rev.  Grindall  Rawson, 
Rev.  Joseph  Green,  JrM 
Rev.  Timothy  Alden, 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Cogswell, 
Rev.  Abel  K.  Packard, 
Rev.  Joseph  B.  Clark, 
Rev.  John  W.  Dodge, 


1639-1646  (?) 
1647-1661 
1667-1693 
1693-1705 
1708-1727 
1729-1754 
1755-1760 
1762-1768 
1769-1828 
1822-1851 
1851-1859 
1861-1868 
1868 


The  East  Precinct  was  organized  into  a  separate 
church  in  1727,  receiving  the  name  of  Dennis  in  1794. 

West  Yarmouth  became  a  distinct  parish  in  1840.  The 
church  has  had  four  houses  of  worship. 


THE  CHURCH  CELEBRATION, 


As  the  organization  of  the  Church  antedated,  by  several 
months,  the  incorporation  of  the  town,  it  was  fitting  that  the 
occasion  should  be  introduced  by  the  church  anniversary. 
The  morning  of  the  Sabbath,  Sept.  1,  opened  bright  and 
beautiful.  Nature  was  in  her  loveliest  attire, — for  the  sea- 
son had  been  rainy  and  the  verdure  was  unwontedly  fresh. 
The  entire  day  passed  without  a  cloud  to  mar  its  beauty. 
The  occasion  had  been  anticipated  with  great  interest,  and 
the  enthusiam  could  be  felt  in  the  very  air.  Long  before 
the  time  of  service  the  people  began  to  arrive  from  the 
various  sections  of  the  two  towns,  nearly  all  the  regular 
services  having  been  surrendered  to  allow  the  people  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  attend  the  anniversary. 
The  church  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity,  settees  being 
brought  in  to  allow  all  available  space  to  be  occupied.  The 
church  had  been  elaborately  decorated  with  evergreen,  and 
on  the  platform  in  the  rear  of  the  pulpit  was  an  evergreen 
arch,  with  the  inscription : 

1639  ANNIVERSARY  1889. 

Potted  plants  filled  the  space  around  and  in  front  of  the 
pulpit,  with  bouquets  of  cut  flowers.  The  pastor  was  assisted 
by  Rev.  Jeremiah  Taylor,  D.  D.,  of  Boston,  grandson  of 
Rev.  Timothy  Alden,  one  of  the  former  pastors  of  the  church. 
The  choir  was  made  up  of  representatives  of  the  different 
societies,  and  in  the  forenoon    was   under  the  charge  of  Mr. 


17 

Andrew  Eldridge,  2d,  chorister  of  the  First  Congregational 

church ;  in  the  afternoon,  of  Mr.  Isaac  Gorham  of  New  York. 

The  program  as  already  given  was  faithfully  carried  out. 


The  following  were  the  Scripture  Selections : 
Hebrews,   11th  chap.    1st    to    10th  verse,    inclusive ;  11th 
chap.  32d  verse  to  12th  chap.   2d  verse,  inclusive;  Hebrews, 
13th  chap.  7th  to  21st  verse  : 

1  Now  faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  ev- 
idence of  things  not  seen. 

2  For  by  it  the  elders  obtained  a  good  report. 

3  Through  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were 
framed  by  the  word  of  God,  so  that  things  which  are  seen 
were  not  made  of  things  which  do  appear. 

4  By  faith  Abel  offered  unto  God  a  more  excellent  sacri- 
fice than  Cain,  by  which  he  obtained  witness  that  he  was 
righteous,  God  testifying  of  his  gifts :  and  by  it  he  being 
dead  yet  speaketh. 

5  By  faith  Enoch  was  translated  that  he  should  not  see 
death ;  and  was  not  found,  because  God  had  translated 
him  :  for  before  his  translation  he  had  this  testimony, 
that  he  pleased  God. 

6  But  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  him :  for 
he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  he  is,  and  that 
he  is  a  re  warder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him. 

7  By  faith  Noah,  being  warned  of  God  of  things  not  seen 
as  yet,  moved  with  fear,  prepared  an  ark  to  the  saving  of 
his  house  ;  by  the  which  he  condemned  the  world,  and  be- 
came heir  of  the  righteousness  which  is  by  faith. 

8  By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  called  to  go  out  into 
a  place  which  he  should  after  receive  for  an  inheritance, 
obeyed ;  and  he  went  out,  not  kowing  whither  he  went. 

9  By  faith  he  sojourned  in  the  land  of  promise,  as  in  a 
strange  country,  dwelling  in  tabernacles  with  Isaac  and 
Jacob,  the  heirs  with  him  of  the  same  promise : 

10  For  he  looked  for  a  city  which  hath  foundations, 
whose  builder  and  maker  is  God. 

32  And  what  shall  I  more  say  ?  for  the  time  would  fail 
me  to  tell  of  Gedeon,  and  of  Barak,  and  of  Samson,  and  of 
Jephthae;  of  David  also,  and  Samuel,  and  of  the  prophets: 
33  Who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought 
righteousness,  obtained  promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of 
Lions. 


18 

34  Quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the 
sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant 
in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens. 

35  Women  received  their  dead  raised  to  life  again :  and 
others  were  tortured,  not  accepting  deli verance ;  that  the}' 
might  obtain  a  better  resurrection  : 

36  And  others  had  trial  of  cruel  mockings  and  scourg- 
ings,  yea,  moreover  of  bonds  and  imprisonment  : 

37  They  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder,  were 
tempted,'  were  slain  with  the  sword  :  they  wandered 
about  in  sheepskins  and  goatskins  ;  being  destitute, 
afflicted,  tormented  ; 

38  (of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy  :)  they  wand- 
ered in  deserts,  and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens  and  caves 
of  the  earth. 

39  And  these  all,  having  obtained  a  good  report  through 
faith,  received  not  the  promise : 

40  God  having  provided  some  better  thing  for  us,  that 
they  without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect. 

Chap.  XII.  1  Wherefore  seeing  we  also  are  compassed 
about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  lay  aside 
every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us, 
and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us. 

2  Looking  unto  Jesus  the  author  and  finisher  of  our 
faith ;  who  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him  endured  the 
cross,  despising  the  shame,  and  is  set  down  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  throne  of  God. 

Chap.  XIII.  7  Remember  them  which  have  the  rule  over 
you,  who  have  spoken  unto  you  the  word  of  God ;  whose 
faith  follow,  considering  the  end  of  their  conversation  : 

8  Jesus  Christ  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for- 
ever. 

9  Be  not  carried  about  with  divers  and  strange  doc- 
trines. For  it  is  a  good  thing  that  the  heart  be  establish- 
ed with  grace  ;  not  with  meats,  which  have  not  profited 
them  that  have  been  occupied  therein. 

10  We  have  an  altar,  whereof  they  have  no  right  to  eat 
which  serve  the  tabernacle. 

11  For  the  bodies  of  those  beasts,  whose  blood  is 
brought  into  the  sanctuary  by  the  high  priest  for  sin,  are 
burned  without  the  camp. 

12  Wherefore  Jesus  also,  that  he  might  sanctify  the  peo- 
ple with  his  own  blood,  suffered  without  the  gate. 

13  Let  us  go  forth  therefore  unto  him  without  the  camp, 
bearing  his  reproach. 


19 

14  For  here  have  we  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one 
to  come. 

15  By  him  therefore  let  us  offer  the  sacrifice  of  praise  to 
God  continually,  that  is,  the  fruit  of  our  lips  giving  thanks 
to  his  name. 

16  But  to  do  good  and  to  communicate  forget  not:  for 
with  such  sacrifices  God  is  well  pleased. 

17  Obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you,  and  submit 
yourselves  :  for  they  watch  for  your  souls,  as  they  that 
must  give  an  account,  that  they  may  do  it  with  joy,  and 
not  with  grief:  for  that  is  unprofitable  for  you. 

18  Prav  for  us :  for  we  trust  we  have  a  good  conscience, 
in  all  things  willing  to  live  honestly. 

19  But  I  beseech  you  the  rather  to  do  this,  that  I  may 
be  restored  to  you  the  sooner. 

20  Now  the  God  of  peace,  that  brought  again  from  the 
dead  our  Lord  Jesus,  that  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep, 
through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant, 

21  Make  you  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will, 
working  in  you  that  which  is  well  pleasing  in  his  sight, 
through  Jesus  Christ ;  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


The  Quarter  Millenial  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Jer- 
emiah Taylor,  D.  D.,  of  Boston. 

The  Historical  sermon  was  preached  by  the  pastor  of 
the  church,  Rev.  John  W.  Dodge. 

THE   HISTORICAL  SERMON. 
Romans  9:  7. — "Whose  are  the  fathers" 

It  was  a  bright  feather  in  the  cap  of  the  Jew  that  he  was 
descended  from  the  three  great  patriarchs,  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob.  God  had  even  condescended  to  name  himself 
from  them.  Their  national  covenant  or  constitution  had 
been  ratified  by  them.  They  were  only  building  in  all  their 
later  history  on  foundations  laid  by  them.  God  was  favora- 
ble to  them  for  the  fathers'  sakes,  and  all  their  prosperity 
was  a  fulfilling  of  the  mercy  promised  to  the  fathers.  The 
mountain  where  their  fathers  worshipped  was  almost  as 
sacred  on  their  Recount  as  for  the   worship  itself,  and  even 


20 

the  wells  they  had  dug  and  drunk  from  were  unequalled  by 
any  of  more  modern  days.  And  though  they  lost  in  later 
times  the  spirit  of  those  fathers,  they  garnished  their  sep- 
ulchres and  held  their  names  in  veneration.  In  all  this  they 
were  expressing  not  merely  a  national,  but  a  natural  instinct. 
Of  all  peoples  it  is  true  that  "the  glory  of  children  are  their 
fathers,"  and  the  children  of  the  Pilgrims  are  by  no  means 
wanting  in  this  spirit.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  earliest 
churches  founded  near  the  original  spot  of  the  landing,  and 
during  the  next  decade  after  their  arrival.  Of  them  it  may 
be  emphatically  said,  "Whose  are  the  fathers."  It  is  to 
honor  their  memory  that  we  are  assembled  to-day  after  the 
lapse  of  250  years,  and  not  theirs  only  or  chiefly,  but  Him 
whose  servants  they  were,  "for  they  got  not  the  land  in 
possession  by  their  own  sword,  neither  did  their  own  arm 
save  them,  but  thy  right  hand  and  thine  arm  and  the  light  of 
thy  countenance  because  thou  hadst  a  favor  unto  them." — 
Psalms  44 :  3. 

It  may  be  well  at  the  outset,  for  the  satisfaction  of  my 
younger  hearers,  to  give  the  reason  for  the  separate  recogni- 
tion of  this  anniversary  by  the  church.  Ordinarily  in  our 
day  the  organization  of  the  church  follows  after  the  settle- 
ment of  the  town  as  called  for  by  the  growing  needs  of  the 
community.  But  in  the  planting  of  New  England  the 
church  took  precedence  of  the  town.  They  came  to  enjoy 
freedom  for  their  religion.  "They  sought  a  faith's  pure 
shrine."  The  preamble  of  one  of  the  laws  of  the  Plymouth 
Colony  runs  in  this  way :  "Inasmuch  as  the  several  town- 
ships were  granted  by  the  government  in  consideration  that 
such  a  company  might  be  received  as  should  maintain  the 
public  worship  of  God  among  them."  So  the  town  was  or- 
ganized to  be  a  protection  for  the  church,  or  perhaps  you 
may  say  a  pedestal  on  which  the  church  should  rise.  So  it 
was  very  natural  that  no  distinct  settlement  could  be  recog- 
nized as  a  town  unless  it  had  its  church  and  minister.  That 
was  the  case  here.  The  church  anteceded  the  incorporation 
of  the  town  by  several  months.     And  for  that  reason  we  do 


21 

well  to  give  it  the  place  of  honor. 

I  am  not  called  upon  to  tell  the  story  of  the  old  church  to- 
day, for  that  has  already  been  done  on  another  occasion  so 
far  as  the  imperfect  state  of  the  records  permitted.  I  design 
only  to  touch  upon  some  points  in  the  early  history  that  are 
most  characteristic,  and  so  bring  out  as  faithful  a  picture  as 
possible  of  the  fathers  and  their  work. 

In  1639,  probably  in  March,  the  original  settlers  came 
to  Mattacheese  in  a  body,  a  few  having  preceded  them  the 
fall  before.  Sandwich  had  been  settled  in  1637  by  a  few 
families,  but  with  so  little  growth  that  the  church  was  not 
organized  till  October,  1639,  with  Rev.  Wm.  Leveridge  as 
pastor,  and  ten  years  later  had  only  eleven  male  members. 
The  Barnstable  church  was  organized  in  London  in  1616,  re- 
moved with  its  pastor  to  Holland  in  1608,  came  to  New 
England  and  settled  in  Scituate  in  1634,  and  in  1639  re- 
moved to  Barnstable  with  their  pastor,  Rev.  John  Lothrop- 
These  were  their  only  neighbors  for  five  years,  when  in  1644 
Eastham  began  to  be  settled,  though  no  church  was  organ- 
ized till  Mr.  John  Mayo  from  Boston  came  to  them  in  1646, 
as  a  teacher.  After  that  no  more  new  plantations  were 
made  or  churches  formed  for  that  century,  except  an  Indian 
church  at  Mashpee  in  1670. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  associate  with  the  year  of  the 
founding  of  this  church  the  fact  that  it  was  the  first  of  Mr. 
William  Bradford's  long  and  honorable  service  as  Governor, 
of  whom  it  has  been  said  that  "he  would  have  done  honor  to 
any  age."  With  him  in  the  colonial  government  as  assis- 
tants were  Thomas  Prince,  Miles  Standish,  John  Alden, 
John  Brown,  Wm.  Collier,  Timothy  Hatherly  and  John 
Jenney.  The  saintly  Elder  Brewster,  then  an  old  man  of 
eighty,  was  still  the  minister  at  Plymouth,  a  kind  of  holy 
father  for  the  younger  ministry.  (First  Baptist  church  in 
Providence  was  organized  the  same  year.) 

Let  us  now  for  a  moment  attempt  to  recall  the  scene 
that  the  little  handful  of  pioneers  looked  out  upon  as  they 
began  their  work  of  faith  and  labor  of  love  in  the  patience  of 


22 

hope.  There  is  more  in  the  landscape  here  that  remains  un- 
changed than  would  be  true  in  an  inland  region.  The  same 
romantic  charm  hovers  over  these  ocean  shores  that  encircle 
the  Bay.  The  sea  gull  still  poises  with  white,  shining  breast 
and  tapering  wings  over  the  purple  sands.  The  mirage  still 
plays  over  the  distant  prospect  in  the  hazy  air,  while  the 
noble  ocean  sweep  from  Manomet  to  the  yellow  hills  of 
Truro  is  as  glorious  as  in  the  days  of  old.  The  surf  on 
yonder  beach  breaks  in  snowy  foam  and  the  spray  is  blown 
back  by  summer  winds  in  the  same  youthful  caprice  of 
eternal  freedom.  The  open  marshes  spread  out  their  green, 
inviting  bosom  as  they  do  to-day,  inviting'the  mower  to  cut  his 
unearned  harvest  and  Lone  Tree  even  then  lifted  itself  as  a 
landmark  for  the  measuring  lines  of  the  first  dwellers  on  the 
upland  borders.  All  over  the  spot  on  which  we  stand  to- 
day, stood  heavier  growths  than  any  we  now  witness  about 
us,  of  pine  and  oak  and  beech  and  birch,  and  perhaps  also 
ash  and  walnut,  for  the  soil  had  not  been  exhausted  by  un- 
thrifty farming.  And  what  is  still  more  difficult  for  us  to 
imagine,  the  Nobscussett,  a  mild  type  of  Indian,  under  their 
sachem,  Mashantampaigne,  might  have  been  seen  anywhere 
by  the  adventurous  stroller  in  Mattacheese,  Hockonom  or 
Nobscussett. 

One  of  the  earliest  tasks  in  which  their  strong  arms 
would  be  enlisted  was  the  building  of  the  meeting  house, 
which  was  at  the  same  time  a  fort,  and  was  undoubtedly  on 
the  place  known  so  long  as  Fort  Hill,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  ancient  cemetery.  It  was  not  far  from  the  marsh's  edge, 
a  log  house,  30x40  feet,  without  glass,  but  in  its  stead  oiled 
paper  for  windows,  until  the  little  diamond-shaped  panes 
were  introduced  later  on.  There  was  no  bell.  Congrega- 
tions were  summoned  on  Sunday  morning  by  beat  of  drum. 
The  men  and  women  sat  apart,  the  men  on  the  east  and  the 
women  on  the  west  side  of  the  house  ;  the  boys  in  a  place  by 
themselves.  At  first  every  church  had  two  ministers  or 
elders.  One  did  the  preaching  and  administered  the  ordi- 
nances, am!  was  the    minister    "par   excellence.'"     The  other 


23 

was  a  teacher,  explained  the  scriptures,  and  shared  in  the 
discipline  of  the  church,  of  which  there  was  a  good  deal 
more  then  there  is  now-a-days.  The  sermons  were  about  an 
hour  long  and  measured  by  an  hour-glass  on  the  pulpit.  The 
children  were  catechised  between  the  services  at  noon. 
Ainsworth's  metrical  translation  of  the  Psalms  was  used  for 
singing  till  about  1700,  when  the  Bay  Psalm  Book,  one  of 
the  earliest  productions  of  their  Puritan  printing  press  at 
Cambridge,  came  unto  general  use  in  the  churches.  They 
had  no  instrumental  music,  and  only  about  five  tunes  were 
sung  by  most  congregations.  These  were  York,  Hackney, 
Windsor,  St.  Mary's  and  Martyrs.  As  the  records  of  the 
first  thirty-five  years  were  destroyed  by  fire,  we  have  to  infer 
from  the  practice  of  other  neighboring  churches  what  was  the 
probable  fact  here.  The  only  means  we  have  of  getting  at 
the  male  membership  of  this  church  is  by  consulting  the 
Colony  Record  at  Plymouth  to  ascertain  who  were  free  men 
and  had  the  right  to  vote.  But  this  is  not  quite  accurate 
here.  In  the  colonies  of  Massachusetts  Bay  and  Connecti- 
cut it  was  the  law  that  no  one  could  become  a  freeman  who 
was  not  in  full  communion  with  some  church.  But  here  it 
was  only  necessary  to  have  a  religious  character.  But,  of 
course,  in  that  day  this  was  virtually  the  same.  Our  fathers 
had  but  little  confidence  in  any  character  that,  in  their 
language,  was  not  "orthodox  in  the  fundamentals  of  religion." 
I  am  inclined  now  to  fix  the  number  of  the  original  church 
at  less  than  twenty,  but  the  material,  so  far  as  we  have  the 
means  of  judging,  was  worthy  of  the  Pilgrim  name.  They 
certainly  had  some  excellent  building  stone  for  the  founda- 
tion of  a  strong  church.  Mr.  Anthony  Thacher  was  the 
equal,  if  not  the  superior,  of  his  pastor,  both  in  ability  and  ed- 
ucation. He  had  been  with  the  Colony  in  Leyden,  and  suf- 
fered almost  as  many  vicissitudes  by  land  and  sea  as  the  hero 
of  the  Odyssey.  His  own  letter  to  his  brother  Peter,  describ- 
ing his  casting  away  off  Cape  Ann,  on  the  island  which  has 
since  borne  his  name,  is  full  of  natural  pathos  as  it  is  of 
Christian  faith.     Whittier  has  told  the  story  of  the  scene  in 


24 

the  musical  lines  of  "The  Swan  Song  of  Parson  Avery,"  his 
cousin  who  was  with  him  and  perished  with  his  eight 
children.  The  deliverance  of  the  one  was  no  less  fit  a  theme 
for  the  poet  than  the  loss  of  the  other.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  valuable  members  of  this  society,  faithful  in  every  po- 
sition, representing  the  town  for  eleven  years  in  the  General 
Court  at  Plymouth.  Mr.  Thomas  Howes,  who  settled  in 
what  is  known  as  New  Boston  in  Dennis,  was  scarcely  less 
honored  for  his  high  character,  not  only  in  this  town,  but 
throughout  the  whole  colony.  His  descendants  have  erected 
a  granite  shaft  to  his  memory  near  his  old  family  seat  in 
Dennis.  It  is  recorded  to  the  praise  of  Mr.  Andrew  Hallet, 
another  member  and  the  first  school-master,  that  he  present- 
ed a  cow  to  the  poor  of  the  town,  which  gift  was  properly 
recognized  by  the  General  Court  in  1643.  A  donation  of 
what  would  be  valued  now  at  $300  reflected  honor  upon  the 
church  of  which  he  was  a  member.  To  these  as  specimen 
bricks,  I  must  add  the  name  of  Richard  Sears,  the  "Pilgrim"  as 
he  is  sometimes  called,  whose  massive  monument  of  granite 
stands  in  the  ancient  cemetery  yonder,  and  a  picture  of  it 
hangs  in  this  church.  He  came  over  with  the  last  of  the 
Ley  den  congregational,  ten  years  after  the  first  landing  at 
Plymouth,  and  took  up  his  residence  here  in  1613,  settling 
at  Sesuit,  or  East  Dennis.  For  twenty-three  years  he  identi- 
fied himself  with  the  Yarmouth  church,  honored  by  public 
office  as  often  as  he  was  will  ling  to  accept  it.  Marrying 
Dorothy  Thacher,  a  sister  of  Anthony,  the  descendants  in 
both  lines  have  reason  to  be  proud  of  their  Pilgrim  stock.  It 
was  such  as  these  of  whom  President  Porter  used  this  lang- 
uage in  tracing  the  sources  of  character  in  one  of  the  noblest 
of  the  children  of  this  church  (Dr.  Joseph  Eldridge)  :  "Cape 
Cod  has  been  known  for  many  generations  as  a  nursery  of 
men  distinguished  for  high  professional  ability,  for  commer- 
cial enterprise,  for  large-hearted  philanthrophy  and  for  self- 
sacrificing  piety.  The  neighborhood  of  the  sea,  with  its  sug- 
gestions of  infinitude,  with  its  restless  motion  and  its  stir- 
ring life,  with  the  coming  and  going  of  its  ships  (bringing 


25 

strange  faces  and  various  products,  with  its  stories  of  adven- 
ture and  escape),  tends  to  liberalize  and  elevate  and  stimu- 
late the  mind  and  to  ennoble  the  character  when  it  takes  a 
good  direction.  In  devout  men  it  gives  ardor  and  breadth 
and  generosity  and  openness  to  their  piety,  and  devout  wo- 
men are  trained  by  their  frequent  separation  from  their  hus- 
bands to  a  constant  sense  of  dependence  on  God,  to  a  fervent 
faith  in  prayer,  and  to  habits  of  self-reliance,  circumspection 
and  forecast." 

These  are  specimens  of  such  as  we  happen  to  know  a 
little  better  than  the  rest.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we 
have  no  records  whatever  of  the  lives  of  the  women  who 
equally  with  the  men  bore  the  brunt  of  the  hardship  of  those 
earliest  years.  With  the  descendants  of  John  Alden  and  the 
thrifty  Priscilla  among  us  to  this  day,  it  would  be  gratifying 
to  have  some  definite  memorials  of  the  mothers  that  brightened 
the  homes  of  the  new  comers  —  for  it  is  love  that  transfig- 
ures the  toils  and  privations  of  any  lot,  and  casts  a  roseate 
glory  over  the  dreariest  landscape,  gilding  with  hope  ever  so 
uncertain  a  future. 

The  three  earliest  ministers  may  be  spoken  of  together, 
as  they  were  all  born  and  bred  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea 
and  brought  to  their  task  the  discipline  derived  from  their 
Puritan  experience.  The  first  was  Mr.  Marmaduke  Mat- 
thews, the  Welchman,  the  man  of  ardent  temperament,  elo- 
quent, though  not  always  logical  or  worldly-wise.  There  is 
no  good  evidence  that  he  was  essentially  unsound  in  his 
teachings,  though  he  was  complained  of  to  the  General 
Court,  as  were  both  of  his  successors.  He  probably  let  fall, 
as  he  says,  some  "weak  and  inconvenient  expressions,"  for 
which  he  humbly  apologized  and  promised  to  avoid  all  ap- 
pearance of  such  evil  afterwards.  So  judicious  a  writer  as 
Nathaniel  Morton  would  not  have  pronounced  him  to  be  an 
able  gospel  preacher,  in  a  day  when  they  did  not  fling  about 
flattering  titles  as  readily  as  now,  if  he  had  been  thought  un- 
equal to  or  unfit  for  his  position.  Mr.  John  Miller,  his  suc- 
cessor, had   trouble   from   the  same  free-thinking  element, 


26 

making  it  necessary  to  call  a  large  council  in  1647,  but  even 
so  the  trouble  was  only  quieted  ;  the  difficulty  was  not  rooted 
out.  Twenty  years  later  it  would  appear  to  have  been  the 
same  element  that  endeavored  to  prevent  the  settlement  of 
Mr.  Thos.  Thornton,  one  of  those  godly  and  painful  minis- 
ters who  had  been  silenced  by  the  act  of  uniformity  in  1662. 
This  time  the  matter  was  thoroughly  sifted  by  the  Governor 
and  assistants,  and  the  minister  was  completely  exonerated, 
and  the  malcontents  severely  reproved.  From  that  time  to 
this,  I  believe  this  church  has  never  been  seriously  disturbed 
by  divisions.  It  may  have  been  that  the  latter  troubles  were 
owing  to  some  extent  to  the  execution  of  the  new  law  passed 
in  1657,  laying  a  tax  upon  the  inhabitants  of  each  town  for 
the  support  of  the  minister.  Two  years  before,  1655,  they 
had  empowered  the  magistrates  to  "use  all  gentle  means  to 
upbraid  all  delinquents  to  do  their  duty  therein,"  with  authori- 
ty to  use  other  means  at  their  discretion  with  such  as  "resist 
through  plain  obstinacy  against  an  ordinance  of  God."  Now 
"distresse  was  to  be  made"  on  such  as  refuse  to  pay,  and  as 
there  appear  to  have  been  a  number  of  free-thinking  settlers 
here  from  the  very  outset,  this  may  have  made  the  trouble 
more  violent.  Against  Mr.  Miller  and  Mr.  Thornton  noth- 
ing could  have  been  alleged  derogatory  to  their  services  or 
character.  They  were  conspicuous  for  high  character  and 
superior  education,  and  the  work  they  did  was  in  every  way 
worthy  of  them.  They  stood  on  a  level  with  the  best  of  their 
cotemporaries  in  the  pulpits  of  the  old  colony,  and  it  might 
be  said  of  them  as  in  the  quaint  lines  of  a  poet  of  one  of  them 
(John  Cotton)  : 

"A  living,  breathing  Bible  —  tables,  where 
Both  covenants  at  large  engraven  were  ; 
Gospel  and  law  in  his  heart  had  each  its  column  ; 
His  head  an  index  to  the  sacred  volume ; 
His  very  name  a  title  page ;  and  next 
His  life  a  very  commentary  on  the  text. 
O,  what  monument  of  glorious  worth 
When  in  a  new  edition  he  comes  forth ! 
Without  erratas,  may  we  think  he'll  be 
In  leaves  and  covers  of  eternity." 


27 

And  now  let  us  glance  rapidly  at  the  forms  of  truth  that 
were  held  forth  in  this  church  in  the  first  decades  of  its  his- 
tory. It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  there  were  no  formal 
confessions  of  faith  for  many  years  in  these  churches. 
They  were  united  by  a  covenant  that  set  forth  the  essentials 
of  Christianity.  When  persons  united  with  the  church  they 
made  public  avowal  of  their  Christian  experience.  Even  the 
churches  at  their  first  gathering  had  no  formal  creeds,  but 
they  began  to  be  adopted  by  one  after  another  after  a  few 
years.  New  England  theology  in  the  seventeenth  century 
was  largely  moulded  by  three  synods.  The  first,  in  1637,  at 
Cambridge  had  reference  to  the  antinomian  heresy.  The 
second,  in  1648,  at  the  same  place,  formulated  what  was 
known  as  the  Cambridge  Platform.  The  third,  in  1662,  dis- 
cussed chiefly  the  question  of  the  subjects  of  baptism  and  in- 
troduced the  Half-way  covenant.  We .  associate  the  West- 
minister Catechism  with  the  earliest  years,  but  though  that 
was  the  substance  of  their  teaching  it  did  not  take  form  till 
seven  years  after  the  founding  of  this  church,  and  was  not 
adopted  for  many  years  after.  Those  were  turbulent  times 
in  the  churches  of  the  mother  country.  The  long  Parlia- 
ment began  in  1640  and  Cromwell  was  making  a  great  stir 
with  his  Ironsides  on  the  bloody  fields  of  Marston  Moor  and 
Naseby.  It  was  only  four  years  after  that  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  was  ratified  in  Edinburgh,  cementing 
the  Scotch  and  English  Protestants  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
Stuarts  in  England.  But  all  this  time  the  Pilgrim  exiles 
were  shut  up  as  in  a  pavilion  far  from  the  strife.  They  "had 
had  no  defence,"  as  Mather  said,  "neither  beak  nor  claw, 
but  a  flight  over  the  ocean."  And  here  they  were  doing 
their  quiet  work  of  building  while  the  struggle  for  liberty 
was  going  on  among  their  brethren  in  the  old  home.  But 
their  creed  was  essentially  that  of  Calvin.  The  doctrine 
around  which  all  others  revolved  was  the  sovereignty  of  God. 
Predestination  was  its  corner  stone.  They  emphasized  the 
contrast  of  sin  and  grace,  and  fought  antinomianism  with  ener- 
gy, and  considered  the  church  as  no  mere  human  organization, 


28 

for  the  Lord  God  himself  was  its  Head.  Their  ideal  of  govern- 
ment was  a  theocracy,  and  the  magistrate  was  the  medium  of 
executing  God's  will.  When  carrying  out  God's  authority 
the  utmost  deference  was  to  be  paid  to  those  in  authority. 
There  was  a  stern  aspect  to  their  teaching  and  their  charac- 
ters, but,  as  Fronde  says,  "for  hard  times  hard  men  are 
needed."  They  had  undertaken  a  mighty  task  and  felt  that 
the  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  Universe  was  behind  them.  They 
were  intolerant,  always  on  the  watch  for  heresy,  regarding 
it  as  an  "ill  egg  that  might  hatch  a  cockatrice,"  but  why  should 
they  not  dread  and  defend  themselves  from  that  which  had 
been  the  cause  of  all  their  trouble  ?  Heresy  as  they  under- 
stood it  was  their  deadly  antagonist.  It  was  simply  a  ques- 
tion which  should  hold  the  ground.  Yet  it  is  to  the  honor 
of  the  churches  of  the  old  colony  that  they  were  never  rigid 
in  their  treatment  of  those  who  differed  from  them.  "To 
the  Plymouth  Colony,"  says  Dr.  Dexter,  "belongs  the  proud 
pre-eminence  of  a  catholicity  of  feeling  and  a  moderation  of 
rule  far  in  advance  of  its  nearest  contemporary  colony." 
I  should  be  glad  to  photograph  the  men  and  women 
who  were  the  makers  of  this  ancient  church.  We  are  very 
apt  to  idealize  them  and  picture  them  as  colossal  characters , 
and  project  into  them  a  grandeur  they  knew  nothing  of. 
Theirs  was  the  simple,  rude  pioneer  life,  of  the  same  nature 
as  the  Western  frontiersmen  of  to-day  —  only  these  have  a 
model  to  work  from  just  behind  them,  but  they,  as  the  Ply- 
mouth poet  said  the  other  day, 

"Tl\ey  i\ad  i\o  model,  but  t^eyleft  us  or\e." 

Perhaps  we  should  rub  off  a  little  of  the  glamour  if  we 
looked  in  on  them  in  their  round  hats,  blouses  and  short 
clothes,  doublet  and  hose.  The  women  with  their  homespun 
dresses,  without  a  waist  and  gathered  only  at  the  neck,  and 
their  wooden-heeled  shoes.  How  rude  their  surroundings ! 
There  is  no  paint  or  paper  on  the  rooms.  Not  even  the 
small  diamond-shaped  glass,  set  in  lead,  at  first,  in  their 
houses.     Their  trencher  shelves   display  only  pewter  ware, 


29 

and  near  by,  the  iron  candlestick,  the  ink-horn,  Bible  and 
hymn  book.  They  have  no  clocks,  bnt  reckon  their  time  by 
the  sun  dial  on  a  post  in  front  of  the  house.  The  men  who 
had  been  brought  up  to  more  refined  pursuits  at  home  did 
not  scruple  to  cut  salt  grass  on  the  marsh  or  turn  their  hand 
to  thatching  the  meeting-house.  They  had  come  into  the 
wilderness  to  lay  foundations,  and  their  sturdy  character  had 
no  element  of  daintiness  in  it.  The  demands  of  the  outer 
man  come  first,  and  it  was  in  these  homely  ways  that  they 
were  making  way  for  something  outwardly  noble,  and  like 
Saul,  while  searching  for  the  asses  they  found  a  kingdom. 
They  believed  in  hard  work  as  a  means  of  grace,  and  had  no 
room  for  any  drones  in  their  hive.  The  two  articles  of  their 
living  creed  were  —  work  and  worship.  There  was  no  non- 
sense about  them.  In  the  language  of  the  day  we  should 
say  they  meant  business.  This  was  seen  in  their  coming  to 
meeting  on  Sunday,  at  the  beginning,  with  their  guns.  They 
saw  no  incongruity  in  praying  to  God  and  shooting  an  Indian 
marauder  on  the  way  home.  If  any  one  denied  the  Scrip- 
tures to  be  a  rule  of  life  he  was  to  receive  corporal  punish- 
ment at  the  hands  of  the  magistrate  (1655).  Two  men  were 
fined  ten  shillings  each  for  disturbance  at  the  Yarmouth  meet- 
ing house,  and  others  five  shillings,  for  smoking  tobacco  "  at 
the  end  of  the  meeting  house  on  the  Lord's  day  in  time  of 
exercise."     These  are  only  waymarks. 

They  were  builders  more  than  fighters.  They  were 
rearing  a  commonwealth  and  at  the  same  time  they  were 
carrying  the  gospel  to  the  pagan  Indians.  For  many  years 
the  southern  side  of  this  town  was  an  Indian  reservation, 
and  it  was  the  favorite  work  of  these  churches  to  bring  them 
to  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  This  was  begun  in  Mr.  Miller's 
ministry  and  carried  forward  with  much  success  by  Mr. 
Thornton,  when  there  were  said  to  be  one  hundred  and 
ninety-one  praying  Indians  in  town,  under  two  native  teach- 
ers. In  1765  there  were  six  wigwams  in  Yarmouth,  belonging 
to  the  church  and  congregation  at  Potnumecutt.  So,  while 
missionary  work  was  not  formally  organized  for  many  years 


30 

after,  this  church  seems  to  have  been  forward  in  inaugurating 
such  a  mission  and  carrying  it  out  to  a  successful  result. 

But  while  such  an  enterprise  as  this  indicates  that  the 
church  had  a  true  idea  of  their  mission  as  an  evangelizing 
agency  here,  it  was  not  in  such  fields  that  its  greatest  value 
is  seen.  The  essential  service  of  a  church  is  seen  in  the  in- 
spiration it  givest  o  the  life  of  the  community,  intellectual,  so- 
cial, political  and  religious.  This  church,  like  so  many  others 
of  those  earlier  days,  was  the  centre  of  the  best  intellectual 
life  of  the  people. 

In  the  catechetical  instruction  of  the  children  on  Sunday 
noons,  (1694)  was  a  training  of  great  importance.  So  it  was 
also  the  social  centre,  for  meetings  of  the  people  were  very 
rare,  except  on  Sunday  at  the  church.  A  living  historian 
has  said  that  "the  church  in  its  spiritual  work,  the  church  in 
its  intellectual  work,  the  church  in  its  work  with  the  sword, 
with  the  plough  and  with  the  axe  is  the  soul  and  spirit  of  all 
true  civilization,  of  all  true  liberty,  of  all  true  knowledge." 

One  of  the  best  illustrations  of  the  truth  of  this  wide- 
reaching  statement  is  a  glance  at  the  history  of  a  single  local 
church  like  this,  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  its  life.  It 
is  a  geologic  section.  It  was  the  church  that  was  the  brac- 
ing power  in  those  trying  days  when  they  were  laying  foun- 
dations. It  was  the  church  that  inspired  to  public  duty. 
The  church  went  forward  and  stood  behind  all  the  great  en- 
terprises of  the  day.  In  the  French  and  Indian  war  of  1744 
the  pastors  were  among  the  first  to  go  forth  to  the  field.  It 
was  the  church  that  held  the  people  to  the  task  of  working  out 
freedom  by  the  revolution.  "The  principle  of  freedom,"  says 
Dr.  Stubbs,  of  Oxford,  "was  brought  into  the  world  and  pro- 
claimed and  made  possible  by  the  church."  The  contribu- 
tions of  the  east  and  west  precincts  in  1774  for  the  suffering 
citizens  of  Boston  of  £5  and  £1  respectively,  though  not 
exclusively  from  the  churches,  were  due  to  the  high  motives 
they  inculcated.  So  the  committee  chosen  in  January,  1775, 
"to  see  that  all  the  resolves  of  the  Continental  Congress  be 
adhered  to"  had  a  deacon  in  its  membership.      In    raising 


31 

money  to  purchase  arms  and  ammunition  "in  this  distressing 
day,"  as  they  call  it,  they  needed  and  had  the  stimulus  of  re- 
ligion to  steady  their  resistance  to  tyranny.  The  same  pow- 
er was  active  as  soon  as  the  war  was  over  in  reviving  the  in- 
terests of  education  that  had  necessarily  languished  in  the 
meanwhile,  and  was  among  the  very  earliest  to  arouse  to  the 
need  of  a  temperance  reform,  being  the  second  in  the  state 
to  organize  for  the  prevention  of  intemperance  (1817).  And 
then  last  of  all,  and  most  important  of  all,  is  the  sending 
forth  of  its  sons  and  daughters  into  all  the  land,  to  carry 
with  them  the  Puritan  ideas  and  Puritan  characters,  to 
mould  the  institutions  of  our  country  in  harmony  with 
the  work  of  the  fathers. 

It  is  for  such  a  career  as  this,  now  slightly  outlined,  that 
the  children  of  the  ancient  church  recognize  her  worth  and 
gladly  meet  to  do  her  honor  on  such  an  occasion  as  this.  In 
the  ongoing  of  our  common  life  the  past  is  soon  forgotten. 
All  that  is  real  to  us  is  what  is  going  on  now.  The  men  and 
women  of  old  and  their  work  is  visionary  and  far  away ;  but, 
after  all,  the  essential  and  permanent  experiences  were  the 
same  then  as  now.  The  words  of  Mr.  Lowell,  with  a  slight 
change,  I  can  use  to-day  of  the  church : 

"  Eigl\t  generations  con\e  arid  goqe 

Frorq  silence  to  oblivion, 
Witt\  all  their  qoisy  strife  ar\d  stress, 

Lulled  iq  the  graves'  forgivir\gr\ess: 
While  you  unqUer\chabty  survive 

Irqmortal,  aln\ost  rqore  alive.  " 

You  recall  the  legend  of  the  seven  sleepers  of  Ephesus. 
In  a  field,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city,  a  quarry  was 
opened  on  the  side  of  a  mountain,  some  time  in  the  fifth  cen- 
tury. As  they  worked  on  they  came  to  a  cavern  with  its 
opening  filled  up  with  a  pile  of  stones.  As  they  took  them 
away,  they  were  surprised  by  the  leaping  up  of  a  dog  from 
within.  Finding  their  way  in,  they  saw  just  waking  up  from 
sleep,  seven  young  men  of  such  a  strange  appearance  that 
they  were  frightened  and  ran  away.     But  the    young  men 


32 

coming  to  their  appetite  sent  one  of  their  number  into  the 
city  to  buy  something  to  eat.  Everything  was  new  to  him. 
He  and  his  companions  had  been  driven  away  only  yester- 
day, as  he  thought,  by  the  persecutors,  but  he  could  not  rec- 
ognize what  he  saw.  Seeing  two  soldiers  coming,  he  hid  him- 
self and  was  struck  with  their  fantastic  uniform  and  unintel- 
ligible dialect.  From  the  high  ground  he  could  look  into  the 
city,  and,  strange  to  say,  the  great  temple  of  Diana  was  gone. 
When  he  came  into  the  city  streets  everything  was  new. 
The  people,  the  shops,  the  costumes  of  the  passers-by  —  all 
sights  and  sounds  were  like  those  of  a  foreign  land.  When 
he  offered  his  coin  at  a  baker's  shop,  he  was  suspected,  placed 
under  arrest  and  taken  to  the  city  court.  There  he  tells  his 
story,  that  he,  with  a  company  of  Christians,  had  hid  them- 
selves in  a  cave  to  escape  persecution  under  the  Emperor 
Decius.  Their  persecutors  had  followed  them  and  built  up 
the  entrance  to  the  cave,  thinking  to  bury  them  alive,  and 
this  morning  the  stirring  of  the  stones  by  some  kind 
stranger,  had  wakened  them,  and  they  had  come  out  to  find 
necessary  food.  And  then  the  reality  was  reported  to  them, 
that  it  was  two  hundred  years  since  Decius  died.  Things  had 
undergone  great  changes  since  then.  Christianity  was  the 
ruling  religion  now,  and  they  were  living  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Christian  Emperor,  Theodosius.  And  when 
the  clergy  of  Ephesus  were  conducted  to  the  cave,  they  heard 
from  the  lips  of  the  rest  the  story  of  their  times,  and 
having  told  it  they  gave  their  parting  blessing  to  the  listen- 
ers, and  sunk  into  the  sleep  which  knows  no  waking.  So  it 
has  appeared  to  me  if  the  fathers  of  the  first  century  of  this 
church  were  to  appear  to  us  of  the  third,  there  would  be  as 
much  that  would  seem  strange  to  them  and  even  more. 
What  different  roads  they  would  find  in  place  of  the  soft 
sand  they  labored  toilsomely  through !  How  the  sound  of 
the  railroad  whistle  would  astonish  them,  and  the  rushing  of 
the  train  at  lightning  speed  over  the  meadows  and  through 
the  hills  !  What  would  they  make  of  the  telegraph  wires  that 
stretch  along  by  it,  and  the  fact  that  not  only  from  town  to 


33 

town,  but  round  the  globe  messages  are  transmitted  with  a 
rapidity  they  never  dreamed  of?  Still  more  would  they  won- 
der to  learn  that  the  four  little  colonies  huddled  in  small  cen- 
tres on  the  Atlantic  shore  had  expanded  across  the  continent 
and  spread  along  the  Pacific  through  the  width  of  the  zone, 
and  the  handful  of  believers  of  all  denominations  had  be- 
come more  then  twenty  millions.  I  fancy  they  would  stand 
aghast  at  the  changes  that  had  come  over  the  spirit  of  the 
churches.  They  would  think  that  the  tolerance  and  liberal- 
ity of  these  times  was  but  a  letting  down  the  bars  to  all  li- 
cense of  thinking  and  living ;  that  the  Sabbath  they  guard- 
ed so  jealously  was  well-nigh  wrecked  by  a  return  to  the 
standard  of  the  pleasure-loving  multitudes  from  which  they 
recoiled.  And  yet  in  their  deep  sympathy  with  the  vital 
spirit  of  Christianity  for  which  they  stood,  they  would  recog- 
nize the  consecration  of  the  church  to-day  to  large,  benevo- 
lent and  missionary  effort  on  the  wide  fields  of  the  nation 
and  the  world,  as  only  an  outgrowth  of  the  same  spirit  that 
led  them  to  abandon  friends  and  country  to  plant  the  king- 
dom of  God  in  this  howling  wilderness.  And  so  with  the 
first  superficial  surprise  once  over  they  would  find  that  in 
the  great  essentials  of  the  spiritual  life  the  church  of  the 
seventeenth  was  one  with  the  church  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. It  is  only  the  forms  that  have  changed,  not  the  spirit ; 
and  though  they  would  seem  as  strange  to  us  as  we  would 
have  seemed  to  them,  it  is  only  the  strangeness  that  is  in- 
evitable in  the  different  stages  of  the  same  life. 

On  a  day  like  this,  we  seem  to  be  given  a  glimpse  from  the 
highlands  of  the  spiritual  life.  The  richest  and  tenderest  ex- 
periences of  by-gone  times  come  hovering  back  once  more. 
We  have  gathered  about  the  spiritual  hearthstone  of  the 
generations.  We  almost  feel  the  presence  of  the  unseen 
throng  of  worshippers  who  gather  with  us  here.  The  fathers 
live  again  and  we  are  one  with  them  in  prayer  and  psalm. 
We  are  ascending  on  the  same  ladder  to  their  God,  and  our 
God.  The  tender  silence  vibrates  with  the  pulses  of  their 
spirits.     Feet  that  once  reverently  walked  these  aisles,  and 


34 

others  these  have  replaced,  now  tread  the  golden  pavements 
of  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  their  prayers  still  float  in  benedic- 
tions above  us.  How  they  seem  to  draw  towards  us  in 
closer  fellowship  as  to-day  we  gather  around  the  table  of  our 
Lord,  who  amid  all  the  mutations  of  this  earthly  life  is  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever !  The  old  and  the  new 
are  all  one  in  the  hallowed  fervors  of  worship. 

"Sair\ts  parted  by  a  thousand  years 
May  l^ere  ir\  l\eart  erqbrace." 

And  now  one  closing  word  for  the  present  outlook.  This 
church  and  those  that  have  grown  out  of  it  —  in  nearer  or  re- 
moter relations,  and  some  of  different  shades  of  faith  and 
forms  of  worship  —  are  in  an  important  sense  the  result  of 
what  the  past  has  been.  There  is  an  unbroken  continuity 
of  life  thrugh  all  the  stages  of  the  history.  Hardly  a  fea- 
ture of  the  early  life  can  be  touched  without  awakening  some 
chord  in  the  present.  Most  important  of  them  is  the  fact 
that  the  old  church  life  has  been  in  touch  with  the  great 
movements  of  the  times  all  the  way.  The  present  paramount 
duty  is  still  to  keep  in  working  relations  with  the  Christian- 
ity of  our  day,  inspiring  and  promoting  every  movement  that 
looks  to  the  upbuiling  of  the  one  immovable  kingdom.  We 
need  no  elixir  of  life  from  any  foreign  source  injected  into 
the  veins  of  the  church  to  rejuvenate  its  energies.  It  is 
for  us  only  to  continue  to  drink  deep  of  the  same  foun- 
tains of  Divine  life  out  of  which  came  the  Christian 
Church,  and  which  animated  the  founders  of  the  church  to 
carry  on  with  strength  and  success  the  work  they  have  left 
us.  And  when  all  the  milleniums  shall  have  completed  their 
round,  and  all  the  links  of  the  chain  are  complete  at  last, "  un- 
to Him  be  the  glory  in  the  church  and  in  Christ  Jesus  unto 
all  generations  forever  and  ever.     Amen." 


At  the  conclusion  of  the  sermon,  all  were  requested,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  remain  at  the  communion  service,  which 
was  participated  in  by  members  of  all  the  various  churches 
of  the  two  towns.     The  occasion  was  a  very  tender  and  im- 


35 

pressive  one.  The  remarks  of  Dr.  Taylor  in  reference  to 
those  who  had  gone  on  before  us  were  very  happy  and  it 
was  felt  to  be  promotive  of  genuine  Christian  unity  thus  to 
ignore  for  once  all  denominational  distinction  in  remem- 
brance of  a  common  Lord. 

The  social  hour  in  the  vestry  was  agreeably  passed,  the 
guests  consisting  almost  entirely  of  those  who  had  come 
from  a  distance.  At  3  o'clock  the  church  was  again  packed 
to  its  utmost  capacity  for  the  more  informal  exercises  of 
the  second  service.  The  pulpit  was  occupied  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Taylor,  Rev.  C.  A.  Bradley,  Rev.  L.  P.  Atwood,  Rev.  George 
W.  Osgood,  Rev.  G.  I.  Ward  and  the  Pastor.  After  sing- 
ing, and  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bradley  of  the  Universalist 
church,  the  pastor,  Rev.  John  W.  Dodge,  spoke  the  follow- 
ing 

WORDS  OF  WELCOME. 
My  Dear  Friends  : 

It  gives  me  pleasure,  in  behalf  of  this  ancient  church, 
on  the  quarter-millenial  anniversary  of  her  birth,  to  welcome 
the  children  and  grand-children  to  their  old  church  home. 
She  may  say  with  the  patriarch  Jacob,  "with  my  staff  I 
passed  over  this  Jordan  and  now  I  am  become  two  bands.  " 
The  little  church  of  less  than  a  score,  that  planted  itself  by 
yonder  shore  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  has  expanded 
into  ten  communions,  living  harmoniously  side  by  side  with- 
in the  old  territorial  limits.  As  a  ray  of  light  is  decomposed 
by  the  prism  into  its  constituent  colors,  so  the  one  faith  has 
developed  here  into  seven  different  forms  as  it  has  passed 
through  the  prism  of  time.  It  may  be  that  such  a  disin- 
tegration was  inevitable  under  the  given  conditions.  It  may 
require  all  these  various  conceptions  to  give  us  the  complete 
idea.  It  is  at  least  a  high  satisfaction  that  representing,  as 
we  do,  diverse  sections  of  the  one  army  of  Christ,  we  are 
moving  on  harmoniously  together.  We  recognize  a  common 
standard  —  the  Bible,  and  one  glorious  leader,  —  Jesus 
Christ.  In  earlier  days  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
separations  from  the  family,the  one  recognized  standing  order, 
should  have  been  made  with  entire  good-feeling,  But  the 
softening  influences  of  time  have  healed  whatever  asper- 
ities may  have  existed.  We  have  learned  to  agree  to  disagree 
and  accord  to  each  other  mutual  sincerity  and  honesty.  I  trust 
it  will  be  one  result  of  this  occasion  to  cement  the  bond  of 
Christian  charity,  to  render  our  relations  together  as  children 


36 

of  one  Heavenly  Father  and  fellow-disciples  of  a  common  Lord 
more  cordial  than  ever. 

This  a  is  glad  day  for  the  grandmother  church.  She  is  in 
her  happiest  mood,  for  this  is  the  greatest  occasion  in  all  her 
history.  She  has  donned  her  wedding  gown  and  has  her  best 
cap  on ;  she  meets  you  as  you  gather  round  the  ancestral 
hearth  with  her  heartiest  greetings.  To  express  these  greet- 
ings she  calls  upon  one  of  her  most  beloved  sons,  who  has  re- 
turned to  honor  this  occasion  and  manifest  his  loyalty  to  the 
church  of  his  fathers.  The  grandson  of  Rev.  Timothy  Al- 
den,  for  about  sixty  years  the  pastor  of  this  church,  will  con- 
vey the  greetings  to  the  children  and  grandchildren.  I  have 
the  pleasure  to  introduce  Rev.  Dr.  Jeremiah  Taylor,  of  Bos- 
ton. 

Then  followed  the  Address  of  Greeting  to  the  Children 
and  Grandchildren  of  the  Ancient  Church,  by  Rev.  Jeremiah 
Taylor,  D.  D. 

THE   ADDRESS  OF  GREETING. 
Fathers  and  Mothers,  Brothers  and   Sisters,  Mem- 
bers and  Representatives  of  this  Church  of  the 
Centuries, — 

Greetings :  —  It  is  a  happy  circumstance,  that  the  inward 
thought  and  the  outward  occasion  suggest  alike,  that  our 
greetings  must  needs  be  the  expression  of  overflowing  grati- 
tude, first,  that  this  Mother  Church  has  had  the  grace  of 
continuance  to  this  favored  hour. 

In  the  beginning,  planted  on  the  foundation  of  the 
Apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief 
Corner  Stone,  she  has  never  swerved  from  the  faith  of  the 
fathers.  "Never  dragged  the  anchor  of  her  youth."  We 
see  her  to-day  amid  these  services  so  high  and  holy,  not  only 
invested  with  the  love,  honor  and  reverence  which  come 
from  rolling  suns,  as  the  years  have  been  prolonged,  but  al- 
so, as  clothed  upon  with  those  robes  of  righteousness  and 
truth,  which  constitute  the  real,  the  noblest  maturity. 

This  is  the  more  to  be  emphasized  as  we  remember  the 
times  of  conflict  and  peril  which  have  been  abroad.  The 
period  in  Ecclesiastical  History  covered  by  the  century  be- 
ginning with  1740  and  ending  with  1840,  was  one  most  mo- 
mentous, especially  to  the  churches  of  New  England. 

Many  of  those  churches,  started  as  was  this,  in  doctrine 
and  consecration,  have  passed  from  sight  or  are  maintaining 
another  gospel.  Even  here,  as  in  the  house  of  the  Interpreter, 
where  the  Christian  Pilgrim  saw  such  wonders  unfolded,  the 


37 

force  of  destructive  agencies  was  vigorously  abroad  for  a  sea- 
son, but  grace  furnished  the  needful  supply,  and  the  holy 
flame  of  the  altar  fire  was  not  extinguished. 

To  those  who  have  received  this  precious,  saving  faith, 
which  has  been  taught  and  exemplified  here  all  these  years, 
what  more  appropriate  than  the  refrain  of  the  Psalm  which 
has  constituted  the  sacred  lesson  of  the  hour, "  Oh,  that  men 
would  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness  and  for  his  wonderful 
works  to  the  children  of  men  ?  "Let  them  exalt  him  also  in  the 
congregation  of  the  people  and  praise  him  in  the  assembly 
of  the  elders. " 

Next,  we  may  bring  our  joyful  greeting,  that  this  church 
has  been  favored  with  such  a  ministry.  Thirteen  pastors 
have  been  the  leaders  and  teachers  of  this  flock  of  God,  from 
the  beginning. 

The  historical  discourses  given  by  the  present  pastor  in 
1873,  present  an  admirable  portrait  of  these  worthies  as  they 
have  been  about  their  Father's  business  in  this  field  of  labor 
during  successive  periods  of  its  cultivation. 

And  while  not  divested  of  human  infirmities,  endowed 
with  different  gifts,  and  toiling  with  varying  success, 
not  one  failed  to  do  well.  The  demands  of  the  time 
were  faithfully  met,  the  labor  done,  —  that  of  a  true  and  hon- 
ored servant  of  the  Lord.  It  is  a  great  thing,  —  a  matter  of 
abiding  jo}r,  if  when  running  the  lines  of  family  ancestry  back 
through  generations  gone,  there  appears  not  one  individual 
through  whom  our  blood  has  descended  who  has  left  the 
taint  of  shame  or  crime.  Every  face  that  beams  upon  us 
from  the  shadowy  past  being  lovely;  every  life,  pure,  exalted  ; 
every  name  good,  better  than  precious  ointment. 

Oh !  how  we  compass  the  world  at  every  point,  if  we 
have  been  so  begotten,  and  never  have  sold  our  birth-right ! 
You  who  constitute  the  family  of  God  here,  actually  or  as 
representatives  of  the  great  and  noble  past,  have  no  occa- 
sion to  blush  as  you  recall  the  name  of  your  religious  teach- 
ers. In  lip  and  life  they  have  been  examples  worthy  of  imi- 
tation. There  is  hope  of  all  the  dead  that  they  are  crowned 
with  Christ,  there  is  assurance  of  those  living,  that  they  are 
walking  closely  with  God, — those  who  have  begotten  you 
in  the  Lord  as  a  right  royal  spiritual  seed.  You  who  are 
old  may  say  with  another : 

"My  boast  is  r\ot,  that  I  deduce  n\y  birth. 
From  loirls  er\th.ror\ed,  ar\d  rulers  of  the  earth, 
But  higher  far  n\y  proud  preter\sioqs  rise 
The  sor\s  of  parents  passed  iqto  the  sKies." 


38 

Again,  we  greet  you,  because  there  has  descended  to 
you  through  the  character  and  conduct  of  this  church  and 
ministry  such  a  heritage  of  peace.  That  is  an  interesting, 
and  as  the  subsequent  events  have  shown,  a  prophetic  pic- 
ture of  the  ministry  and  people  given  in  the  historical  state- 
ment already  referred  to,  that  during  the  first  eighteen  years 
of  the  life  of  this  church,  no  legal  acts  had  been  passed  in 
General  Court  bearing  on  the  support  of  the  ministry,  "  for 
such  was  the  good  will  of  the  people  and  such  was  the  zeal 
of  the  ministry  and  the  devotion  of  the  people,  that 
no  legal  contracts  have  been  necessary  between  them. " 
And  when  subsequently  legal  requirements  came  into  use 
there  was  manifested  no  disposition  to  make  them  hard  and 
rigid  arbitrators  of  right,  but  rather  the  handmaids  of  love 
and  tender  thoughtfulness.  It  has  interested  me  much  as  I 
have  learned  the  method  pursued  when  the  new  parish,  sub- 
sequently called  Dennis,  was  formed.  The  meeting-house 
was  builded,  the  pastor  had  his  choice  to  go  with  the  new  con- 
gregation or  remain  with  the  old.  The  view  taken  of  the  situ- 
ation was  rational,  wise,  kind,  benevolent.  The  widening  pop- 
ulation demanded  the  new  organization  and  place  of  worship, 
and  so  all  things  were  made  contributary  to  its  prosperity. 
As  from  the  old  home-stead  the  mother  sends  forth  her  daugh- 
ter to  her  new  home,  with  the  heartiest  benediction,  seeing 
in  the  change  the  beloved  child's  best  good,  so  in  these  new 
relations  of  church  life  a  no  less  harmonious  and  benevolent 
movement  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  West  Church. 
And  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  descended  copiously  upon  the 
people  in  preparation  for  the  happy  result.  Of  the  way  in 
which  the  several  other  churches  have  sprung  up,  bearing 
different  names,  and  fulfilling  their  chosen  mission,  we  have 
time  only  to  say  this,  that  the  mother  heartily  rejoices  in 
all  the  good  her  children  may  be  doing,  and  will  be  the  first 
to  grieve  when  the  shadow  of  a  suspicion  may  arise  that  wrong 
things  are  being  subserved.  Though  she  esteems  most 
highty  the  precept,  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  yet  her  charity 
is  broad  and  kind,  as  all  you  will  testify  who  have  lived  in 
these  neighboorhood  relations,  and  have  come  up  hither  in 
joyfulness  this  day.  "  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers  for  they 
shall  be  called  the  children  of  God." 

If  I  have  discovered  aright  the  spirit  of  this  foster  mother, 
as  her  children  have  gone  out  from  her  embrace  these  many 
years,  it  is  voiced  in  the  words : 


39 

"Whier)  we  asuqder  part 

It  gives  us  inward  pair), 

Bat  we  sh^all  still  be  Joiqed  ir\  Y\eart, 

Rr\d  r\ope  to  rqeet  agarq." 

Oar  greetings  would  be  very  incomplete,  here  and  now, 
if  we  leave  in  the  background  the  responsible  and  solemn  in- 
heritance of  religious  work,  which  has  been  bequeathed  to 
those  who  constitute  the  life  of  to-day. 

It  will  not  do  to  think  and  speak  only  of  the  past  —  the 
fathers  who  now  sleep  —  the  great  and  good  labors  they 
have  done.  We  ascend  to  the  mountain  top  to  face  the 
east  as  well  as  the  west.  To  exult  in  the  glories  of  coming 
as  well  as  setting  day. 

All  true  success  in  life  is  a  force  to  urge  us  on  to  greater 
things  in  the  future.  Shame  to  those  children  who  come  into 
possesion  of  a  rich  paternal  estate,  and  misimprove  and 
squander  it.  "Walk  about  Zion  and  go  round  about  her: 
tell  the  towers  thereof.  Mark  ye  well  her  bulwarks ;  con- 
sider her  palaces,  that  ye  may  tell  it  to  the  generations 
following.  For  this  God  is  our  God  for  ever  and  ever,  he 
will  be  our  guide  even  unto  death." 

No  period  in  the  centuries  gone  equalled  this,  in  the 
opportunities  afforded,  and  the  claims  presented  for  entire 
devotion  and  vigorous  service  in  bringing  this  world  to  Christ. 

"We  are  living,  -we  are  dwelling 
Ir\  a  grar\d  ar\d  awful  tin\e ; 
Ir\  ai\  age  ori  ages  telling— 
To  be  liviqg  is  sublirqe." 

Do  we  to-day  set  up  a  stone  in  this  way  of  the  centuries 
and  call  it  Ebenezer,  saying,  "Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  blessed 
us?"  Let  us  add  to  the  inscription  in  all  its  breadth  of  meaning, 
"  But  as  for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord." 
See  that  ye  walk  worthy  of  your  high  vocation,  brethren. 

As  a  final  word,  —  Let  us  be  lifted  up  to  a  lofty  concep- 
tion of  that  eternal  life  which  is  the  future  inheritance  of  the 
church  of  God .  Never  is  my  heart  more  thankful  for 
the  doctrine  of  life  and  immortality  as  revealed  in  the  gos- 
pel, than  when  standing  amid  the  monuments  of  the  buried 
past.  "The  fathers,  where  are  they,  and  the  prophets,  do  they 
live  forever?" 

Our  eyes  to-day  look  over  the  broad  landscape,  bound- 
ed by  the  horizon  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  What  do 
we  see  ?  Not  the  multitude  of  people  who  have  been  here,  but 
a  few  only,  the  representatives  of  the  many,  and  the  graves 


40 

of  the  rest.  And  in  a  few  brief  years  all  the  living  of  to-day- 
will  be  numbered  with  the  dead.  The  drifting  sands  which 
flit  along  the  streets,  the  waves  of  the  restless  sea  which 
wash  the  shore,  seem  more  permanent  than  human  life.  It  is 
the  institutions  of  influence  and  power,  which  abide  while 
the  builders  perish  from  the  light,  as  in  the  coral  islands  of 
ocean.  How  many  houses  here  are  older  then  those  who  live 
in  them!  We  look  beyond  these  fields  so  desolate  from  the 
ravages  of  sin  and  death,  and  are  transported  to  fairer  climes 
as  we  read  these  assuring  words  :  "For  this  corruptible  must 
put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immortali- 
ty :  so  when  this  corruptible  shall  have  put  on  incorruption 
and  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality,  then  shall  be 
brought  to  pass  the  saying,  death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory.'' 
"For  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout, 
with  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  with  the  trump  of  God, 
and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first.  Then  we  which  are 
alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up  together  with  them  in 
the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air,  ancl*so  shall  we  ever 
be  with  the  Lord." 

Wherefore,  my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye  steadfast,  un- 
movable,  alwaj^s  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  foras- 
much as  ye  know  that  your  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord." 


The  Anniversay  Hymn  (as  given  on  page  14)  was  then 
sung  by  choir  and  congregation. 

As  the  oldest  daughter  of  the  church,  is  the  church  in 
Dennis,  the  first  response  was  by  Mr.  Joshua  C.  Howes,  a 
member  of  the  Union  church  of  Dennis,  who  spoke  as  follows  : 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  JOSHUA  C.  HOWES. 

While  other  churches  are  represented  by  their  ministers, 
it  may  be  well  to  explain  why  the  church  in  the  old  East  Pre- 
cinct is  represented  by  laymen.  The  facts  are,  that  our  min- 
ister is  in  the  condition  of  the  man  spoken  of  in  the  scriptures 
who  was  invited  to  a  feast,  who  excused  himself  by  saying, 
he  had  married  a  wife  and  therefore  could  not  come.  Jt  has 
already  been  stated,  that  in  the  settlement  of  this  territory, 
the  church  preceded  the  town.  And  that  the  church  being 
established,  the  town  was  organized  partly  with  the  view  to 
its  support.  So  was  it  here  —  the  church  preceded  the  town 
in  Old   Yarmouth,  and  the  church  preceded  the  town  in  the 


41 

East  Precinct.  When  the  East  Precinct  was  established,  those 
dwelling  upon  the  borders  of  the  line  were  permitted  to 
choose  into  which  precinct  they  should  go,  and  as  the  person 
took  with  him  the  property  he  owned  for  purposes  of  taxa- 
tion—  there  were  no  straight  lines  of  division  —  but  lines 
followed  the  course  of  different  lots  of  real  estate  as  the  case 
might  be.  When  Yarmouth  was  divided  and  Dennis  set  off, 
the  precinct  line  was  made  the  town  line.  Hence  the  very 
crooked  division  line  between  the  towns  to  this  day. 

The  need  of  extra  accommodation  had  become  so  great 
in  172  L  that  a  meeting-house  had  been  built  in  the  East  Pre- 
cinct, now  Dennis,  which  was  afterwards  enlarged,  and  which 
I  well  remember.  It  was  a  building  about  50  x  65  feet  in  size, 
with  a  two-story  porch  upon  the  south  side,  through  which 
entrance  was  gained  to  both  auditorium  and  galleries,  which 
extended  to  three  sides  of  the  building.  There  was  a  broad 
aisle  through  the  centre,  from  entrance  to  the  pulpit  which 
stood  up  high,  and  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  galleries,  so 
that  the  preacher  talked  down  to  the  people,  which  was  the 
idea  prevailing  between  pastor  and  people  in  that  age.  A 
line  of  pews  about  eight  feet  square  followed  the  wall  on  each 
side  from  the  main  entrance  to  the  pulpit,  and  the  cen- 
tre was  taken  up  by  two  blocks  of  pews,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  broad  aisle,  entrance  to  which  was  gained  by  the  broad 
aisle  and  a  narrow  aisle  between  the  centre  and  the 
wall  pews.  On  the  west  side,  and  directly  in  front  of 
the  pulpit,  were  three  long  seats  for  the  old  men.  And  what 
venerable  old  men  they  were  to  my  youthful  eyes !  Veritable 
pictures  of  "  Old  Time  "  in  the  primer.  But  an  examination 
of  the  records  found  upon  their  gravestones,  shows  that  they 
died  mostly  between  sixty  and  seventy  years  of  age,  several 
of  the  in  at  fifty-eight.  In  those  days  energy  and  effort  was 
needed  to  bring  people  to  church,  for  they  came  long  dis- 
tances, from  East  Dennis,  South  Dennis  and  West  Dennis. 
At  one  time  I  was  associated  with  one  of  the  Baxter  family 
of  West  Dennis  on  the  board  of  selectmen.  I  see  the  other  as- 
sociate now  before  me.  Capt.  Baxter  told  me  then  a  great  deal 
of  his  travels  down  to  the  old  meeting-house  on  the  Sabbath. 
In  summer  the  family  would  take  a  boat  at  their  house,  and 
row  to  the  head  of  Follins  Pond,  and  foot  it  from  there  to  the 
old  meeting-house,  and  after  hearing  two  long  sermons,  run- 
ning into  the  seventeenthly,  would  return  as  they  came. 

There  were  no  carriages  in  that  day,  at  least  what  we 
now  call  carriages.  There  may  have  been  carts  or  other  vehi- 


42 

cles  for  horses,  but  I  think  not.  Work  was  done  with  oxen. 
I  can  remember  the  first  carriage  owned  in  my  section  of 
Dennis.  But  there  were  a  few  horses,  and  those  who  could 
afford  them  come  from  long  distances  on  horseback,  the  man 
in  the  saddle,  and  the  mother  or  daughter  behind,  on  a  pillion. 
It  was  a  common  thing  to  change  on  the  way,  two  riding  part 
of  the  way  ahead,  and  then  dismount,  tie  the  horse  and  travel 
on,  when  others,  as  agreed,  on  arriving  to  the  horse,  would 
mount  and  travel  to  overtake  the  first  and  so  on.  There 
were  no  fires  in  the  church,  and  no  means  of  heating,  so 
through  the  intermission  at  noon,  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
warm  in  winter,  and  in  the  summer  from  habit  and  associa- 
tion, those  from  far  away  visited  neighboring  houses.  My 
father's  house  being  one  of  the  nearest,  was  always  filled  with 
these  people,  whose  features  and  manners  I  well  remember, 
and  as  I  was  the  youngest  of  the  family,  a  small  boy,  I  was 
the  recipient  of  many  a  slice  of  the  Sunday  cake,  or  a  nice 
red  apple  from  the  Sunday  lunch  bag,  which  I  as  well  remem- 
ber as  any  other  feature  of  the  visits.  If  there  was  time  I 
should  like  to  describe  to  you  these  old  people  as  they  ap- 
peared to  me  then.  There  were  Searses,  Chapmans,  Cro wells, 
Bakers,  Baxters,  Taylors,  Halls  and  many  others  —  but  there 
is  not  time. 

The  first  settled  minister  over  the  East  Precinct  was 
Josiah  Dennis.  This  was  in  1763  and  his  term  of  ser- 
vice was  thirty-six  years.  (He  may  have  preached  here  be- 
fore his  settlement.)  He  was  much  esteemed  by  the  people, 
so  much  so  that  when  it  became  a  town,  it  took  its  name 
from  him.  We  have  now  at  our  church  the  communion  cup, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  old  or  more,  upon  which  is  the 
inscription  —  "  The  gift  of  J.  Dennis."  At  one  time  there 
came  a  man  to  the  place  who  claimed  some  relationship  to 
Mr.  Dennis,  and  he  asked  us  to  give  him  the  cup  as  a  family 
memento,  and  he  thought  us  lacking  in  generosity  and  kind- 
ness when  we  refused.  Our  regard  for  the  memory  of  the 
giver,  and  the  many  good  Christians  long  since  gone  to  their 
eternal  rest,  who  had  drank  from  it,  forbade  our  doing  so, 
and  we  have  it  still. 

After  him  came  Nathan  Stone,  who  labored  forty  years. 
Then  Caleb  Holmes,  eight  years.  These  died  and  were  buried 
in  the  parish  burying  ground.  Next  came  Joseph  Haven, 
twelve  years.  He  was  the  first  minister  of  which  I  have 
recollection.  He  was  a  worthy  man,  and  I  observed  him 
with  awe  and  veneration.     He  had  a  son,  Joseph,  two  years 


43 

older  then  myself  —  since  professor  at  Amherst  —  known  by 
some  of  the  clergy  here  present.  We  were  in  the  same  class 
at  school,  and  I  have  to  acknowledge,  he  was  a  better  scholar 
than  myself.  Probably  possessed  a  better  intellect,  and  had 
more  help  in  his  studies  at  home.  We  used  to  play  together 
more  or  less,  as  our  homes  were  near,  but  he  was  limited  in 
his  plays  as  he  was  a  minister's  son,  and  at  that  period  that 
meant  a  great  deal. 

After  Mr.  Haven  came  Daniel  M.  Stearns  in  1826,  whose 
service  was  for  twelve  years,  and  he  was  the  last  settled  min- 
ister of  the  old  church. 

During  Mr.  Haven's  ministry  dissensions  arose  in  church 
and  society  and  out  of  them  the  call  to  Mr.  Stearns  was  made, 
who  was  of  Unitarian  proclivities.  Thereupon  a  split  took 
place  and  a  new  organization  was  formed  by  those  of  a  more 
orthodox  faith.  This  church  held  their  meetings  for  a  while 
in  the  Masonic  Hall.  Subsequently  the  hall  was  sold, 
moved,  and  converted  into  a  dwelling  house,  and  a  new 
church  was  built  on  the  site  of  the  Hall.  This  is  the  church 
now  standing,  and  occupied  by  the  Union  Church  Society. 
The  Unitarian  branch  not  to  be  outdone,  sold  the  old 
meeting-house,  and  erected  a  new  one  on  the  same  lot,  both 
churches  being  built  at  one  and  the  same  time.  About  this 
time,  or  just  before,  the  Methodists  formed  a  church  under 
the  name  or  order  of  Reformed  Methodist,  and  they  also 
built  a  meeting-house,  or  as  one  of  their  number  called  it  "a 
little  praying-house."  There  was  also  a  number  of  Univer- 
salists  holding  their  meetings  in  the  school-house.  Soon  there 
was  a  division  among  the  Methodists,  who  had  meantime 
changed  to  the  Wesleyan  order,  and  a  new  church  was 
started  under  the  Episcopal  organization.  For  a  meeting- 
house, they  fitted  up  what  was  a  store,  which  was  often 
spoken  of  after  as  the  "  gospel  shop." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen,  we  had  three  meeting-houses  built 
especially  for  that  purpose,  one  temporary  meeting-house, 
and  a  school-house,  all  running  at  one  time.  But  the  zeal 
sufficient  to  keep  all  these  organizations  in  good  working 
order  was  not  to  last.  The  Universalists  after  a  length  of 
time  were  absorbed  by  the  Unitarians,  or  went  elsewhere.  The 
Methodist  joined  hands  and  resources.  The  Unitarians  wan- 
ed, weakened,  and  finally  sold  their  meeting-house  to  be 
moved  and  used  for  other  purposes.  And  then  there  came 
the  consummation  of  the  present  state  of  affairs  —  the  sale 
by   the  Methodists  of  their  church  building,  which  is  now 


44 

Carlton  Hall,  and  the  nnion  of  all  elements  of  religious  faith 
and  tendencies  into  a  society  known  as  the  Dennis  Union 
Religious  Society,  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  religi- 
ous services,  and  the  union  of  all  those  of  evangelical  faith 
into  a  church  known  as  the  Union  Church  of  Christ  in  Dennis. 
We  are  restored  to  the  original  condition.  One  church,  one 
people.  There  are  no  disagreements  or  discords  among  us 
that  are  harmful.  We  dwell  and  labor  together  in  peace 
and  harmony,  and  though  there  may  be  differences  in  opin- 
ions, I  think  we  all  agree,  that  the  old  golden  rule  "  whatso- 
ever ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to 
them, "  is  the  best  rule  to  live  by,  and  that  that  person 
who  lives  the  purest  life,  and  at  the  same  time  is  the  most 
useful,  is  the  happiest  person  here,  and  has  no  overshadow- 
ing cause  to  be  anxious  about  the  life  hereafter. 

I  thank  you  in  behalf  of  the  old  East  Precinct  for  your 
kind  reception  and  entertainment. 

I  thank  you  for  this  opportunity  of  uniting  with  the  old 
church  in  celebrating  and  commemorating  its  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary. 

May  God  bless  the  old  church,  and  all  its  several  branches. 

Capt.  Thomas  P.  Howes,  a  member  of  the  parish  of  the 
same  society,  was  invited  to  add  his  own  reminiscences  of  the 
past  and  spoke  as  follows  : 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  THOMAS   P.   HOWES. 

My  Friends  :  — 

I  owe  it  to  the  kindness  of  the  pastor  of  this  Church 
that  I  have  the  privilege  of  speaking  here  to-day.  I  come 
with  something  of  the  feeling  of  a  pilgrim  to  the  shrine  of 
his  ancestors.  I  am  embarrassed  at  the  thought  of  the  sol- 
emnity of  the  occasion,  and  of  the  audience  I  am  to  address. 
A  descendant  of  that  historic  pair,  worthy  John  Alden 
and  sweet  Priscilla  Mullins,  is  here  to-day.  And  we  have 
Doctors  of  Divinity  and  other  men  eminent  for  learning,  be- 
fore whom  I  am  to  speak. 

So  it  is,  I  am  filled  with  a  sense  of  my  own  weakness  and 
temerity  in  attempting  to  give  utterance  to  what  is  in  my 
mind  to  say.  When  the  suggestion  was  first  made  to  cele- 
brate the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  this  an- 
cient church,  I  was  much  interested  in  having  the  thought 
carried  out ;  and  now  we  are  blessed  with  a  splendid  day  and 
a  beautiful  sanctuary.     My    imagination    at  this  hour  goes 


45 

back  to  the  founders  of  this  church,  two  of  whom  were  my 
own  ancestors.  They  labored  and  builded,  and  we  have  en- 
tered into  their  labors.  Great  is  the  contrast  between  their 
days  and  ours,  between  their  meeting  house  and  ours.  They 
walked  and  rode  miles  from  the  eastern  part  of  the  town  to 
attend  church  ;  we  have  no  such  sacrifice  to  make.  Comfort 
and  luxury  are  ours,  where  they  had  hardship  and  penury. 
But  I  am  invited  to  speak  for  the  old  East  Precint  of  Yar- 
mouth, now  Dennis. 

Rev.  Josiah  Dennis,  every  one  knows,  was  our  first 
minister.  The  first  meeting  to  arrange  for  parish  organiza- 
tion was  held  on  the  last  day  of  P^ebruary  1721-2,  when 
twenty-six  freeholders  met  at  the  house  of  Nathaniel  Howes. 
The  house  where  this  meeting  occurred  was  standing  until 
quite  recently.  Rev.  Josiah  Dennis  was  called  in  1725,  but 
not  ordained  until  1727.  Mr.  Dennis  was  a  man  of  learning 
and  high  standing  among  the  ministry  of  his  day.  The  town 
was  named  for  him  and  thereby  honored  itself  by  thus  hal- 
lowing his  memory.  That  he  was  a  person  of  strong  individual- 
ity is  shown  by  the  many  stories  told  of  him.  I  have  had  in 
my  possession  two  short  notes  of  his  written  to  my  great- 
grandfather ;  they  did  not  refer  to  any  important  matters. 
One  was  in  reference  to  the  purchase  of  salt  hay,  which  he 
remarked  was  in  good  demand,  and  the  other  concerned  the 
loaning  of  a  newspaper,  which  was  a  rare  treasure  in  those 
days.     The  dates  on  which  they  were  written  were  1758-9. 

There  is  a  pretty  little  romance  handed  down  by  tradi- 
tion, relating  to  his  early  ministry.  It  seems  that  he  formed 
an  attachment  for  one  Miss  Thankful  Howes,  a  daughter  of 
Lieut.  Jonathan  Howes,  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  East 
Precinct.  An  engagement  was  made,  and  the  young  lady 
went  to  Boston  to  attend  school  and  become  fitted  for  the 
pastor's  wife.  Unfortunately  she  fell  sick  and  died  and  was 
buried  in  Boston.  How  Mr.  Dennis  received  the  news  we 
are  not  told,  but  years  afterwards  when  the  brother  of  his 
fiance,  Mr.  David  Howes,  had  a  daughter  born,  Mr.  Dennis 
called  to  see  the  babe,  with  a  string  of  gold  beads  to  put 
around  the  child's  neck.  The  gift  of  the  beads  was  attended 
by  the  request,  that  the  child  should  be  named  "  Thankful,  " 
after  his  deceased  love,  and  the  beads  be  handed  down  to 
successive  generations  of  Thankful.  The  beads  are  still  the 
property  of  a  descendant  of  Thankful  Howes.  Mr.  Dennis 
became  the  husband  of  two  wives  subsequently,  but  always 
retained  a  tenderness  for  his  early  love.  He  once  told  a  broth- 


46 

er  of  this  young  woman  that  he  never  went  to  Boston 
without  visiting  her  grave.  Such  was  his  constancy.  Many 
anecdotes  are  related  of  his  mirthful  disposition.  His  fond- 
ness for  having  his  joke  he  shared  with  many  of  the  early 
ministers ;  one  or  two  have  rather  an  irreverent  sound.  On 
one  occasion  he  exchanged  with  the  minister  at  Eastham  ; 
it  happened  to  be  at  the  season  when  the  seamen  were  about 
sailing  on  their  whaling  voyages.  On  entering  the  pulpit  he 
found  quite  a  collection  of  notes  from  persons  "desiring  pray- 
ers," being  bound  to  sea ;  the  names  seemed  to  run  mostly 
as  "  Cooks  "  and  "  Cobbs."  Mr.  Dennis  looked  them  over 
and  gathered  them  in  his  hand,  as  he  arose  to  commence  ser- 
vice, and  held  them  out,  saying  as  he  did  so :  —  "  Here  are 
a  parcel  of  Cooks  and  Cobbs,  who  desire  the  prayers  of  this 
church  and  congregation,  being  bound  to  sea."  One  can  im- 
agine the  smile  that  spread  over  the  faces  of  his  congregation 
at  this  announcement.  Mr.  Dennis  was  the  beloved  minister 
of  the  East  Parish  for  thirty-seven  years,  and  died  in  all  the 
odor  of  sanctity,  lamented  as  one  who  had  guided  his  people 
with  integrity  of  heart,  and  uprightness  of  character. 

To  him  succeeded  the  Rev.  Nathan  Stone.  He  was  son 
of  Rev.  Nathan  Stone  of  Southborough  and  grandson  of  the 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Stone  of  Harwich,  now  Brewster.  He  was 
ordained  in  1764,  his  venerable  father,  of  Southborough, 
preaching  the  ordination  sermon.  Mr.  Stone  was  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor to  Mr.  Dennis.  He  belonged  to  a  ministerial  line  and 
illustrated  the  virtues  of  his  lineage.  His  pastorate  of  the  East 
Parish  extended  from  1764  to  1804,  a  period  of  forty  years. 
It  included  the  Revolutionary  era,  the  division  of  Yarmouth 
and  the  formation  of  the  Federal  Government.  It  witnessed 
the  departure  of  many  families  from  his  parish  to  regions 
farther  West,  and  a  consequent  weakening  of  his  pastoral 
charge. 

Mr.  Stone  was  the  preacher  to  the  generation  to  which 
my  father  belonged,  and  many  are  the  conversations  I  have 
listened  to,  where  Mr.  Stone  was  the  topic.  I  judge  the 
preachers  of  his  day  were  somewhat  formal  in  their  pulpit 
exercises.  The  sermons  were  intellectual  propositions  to  be 
argued  and  proved ;  the  prayers  were  a  set  of  phrases  re- 
peated every  Sabbath,  so  that  a  person  coming  in  during 
prayer  time  could  tell  how  far  along  the  prayer  had  progress- 
ed. But  still  I  have  no  doubt  many  souls  were  strengthened 
by  the  preaching  of  Mr.  Stone  and  his  word  was  as  a  live 
coal  to  their  hearts.     He  died  1804  esteemed  and  mourned 


47 

by  the  people  of  his  charge  and  the  church  of  which  he  was  a 
distinguished  ornament. 

The  Rev.  Caleb  Holmes  was  our  next  minister.  He 
was  ordained  in  1805.  I  remember  reading  an  account  of 
the  ordination  exercises  many  years  ago.  The  charge  was 
given  by  the  Rev.  Oakes  Shaw  of  Barnstable,  father  of  the 
late  Judge  Shaw.  The  right  hand  of  fellowship  was  pre- 
sented by  Rev.  Jotham  Waterman  of  Barnstable.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Shaw  urged  the  young  preacher  "to  preach  Christ,  and 
much  of  Christ,  and  him  crucified."  Mr.  Waterman  said 
"  When  James,  Peter  and  John  perceived  that  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas had  received  the  faith,  they  gave  unto  them  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship,  in  remembrance  of  which,  my  dear  broth- 
er, I  now  present  you  this  right  hand,  and  welcome  you  into 
the  gospel  vineyard,  and  a  rich  harvest  of  souls  unto  Christ." 
Mr.  Holmes's  short  ministry  was  acceptable  to  his  people  and 
he  retained  a  loving  place  in  their  memories ;  he  died  1813 
and  lies,  buried  with  his  predecessors,  Mr.  Stone  and  Mr.  Den- 
nis, in  our  cemetery. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Haven  was  ordained  in  1814  as  suc- 
cessor to  Mr.  Holmes.  In  due  time  he  married  his  prede- 
cessor's widow.  Mr.  Haven  I  remember  well ;  a  tall,  grave, 
dignified  man,  devout,  sincere  and  conscientious  in  all  his 
dealings;  he  commended  himself  to  the  community  as  one 
who  adorned  the  Christian  ministry.  During  his  ministry 
the  great  revival  of  1821-22  occurred,  the  result  of  which  was 
much  division  of  sentiment  on  doctrinal  questions,  the  advent 
of  Methodism  for  one  thing,  and  subsequently  the  division 
of  the  society.  It  was  a  time  of  high  religious  excitement, 
and  exaltation  of  spiritual  feeling.  My  father  was  converted 
in  1822,  and  was  soon  after  chosen  one  of  the  Deacons  of  the 
church  and  held  the  office  until  his  death  in  1832. 

Being  trained  up  to  attend  church  every  Sunday,  and 
frequent  exchanging  of  pulpits  being  the  custom,  it  so  hap- 
pens that  I  can  remember  nearly  all  the  clergymen  who  were 
settled  in  Barnstable  County  during  Mr.  Haven's  ministry, 
and  that  of  Rev.  Daniel  M.  Stearns,  his  successor.  The  aged 
Mr.  Timothy  Alden  I  can  reccollect  of  seeing  at  our  church  in 
Dennis  about  1824.  It  was  at  a  meeeing  of  an  Association 
of  ministers,  I  think.  He  wore  his  white  wig  on  that  occasion 
and  was  the  object  of  veneration  and  affectionate  regard  of 
the  assembly.  I  remember  his  funeral  and  my  father  going 
to  Yarmouth  to  be  present  at  the  exercises.  His  son,  Rev. 
Martin  Alden,  often  supplied  the  pulpit  in  Dennis. 


48 

The  minister  at  Provincetown  for  many  years  was  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Stone,  a  son  of  Rev.  Nathan  Stone  of  our  parish. 
He  was  frequently  in  our  pulpit,  as  he  had  two  brothers  and 
a  sister  living  in  Dennis. 

At  Truro,  preached  Rev.  Jude  Damon,  who  occasionally 
filled  our  pulpit.  He  preached  in  Truro  forty-two  years,  re- 
spected and  beloved. 

At  Eastham  was  settled  the  Rev.  Philander  Shaw,  who 
often  exchanged  with  our  minister,  and  no  preacher  attracted 
my  attention  like  Mr.  Shaw.  He  was  a  favorite  speaker  with 
our  people ;  his  prayers  usually  flowed  on  in  the  same  rhet- 
orical phrases  and  wound  up  with  the  same  supplication  :  — 
"  And  now,  O  Lord,  what  wait  we  for  ?  Our  hope  is  in  thee. 
May  all  parts  of  divine  service  be  performed  to  our  edifica- 
tion and  thy  divine  acceptance.  May  we  sing  another  of 
the  songs  of  Zion  with  raised  affections  and  elevated  devo- 
tions. Hear  our  prayers,  accept  our  praises  and  forgive  us 
our  sins."  These  sentences  were  always  repeated.  His  fav- 
orite hymn  was  Cowper's,  beginning  "God  moves  in  a  myste- 
rious way,  His  wonders  to  perform."  He  prayed  with  his 
eyes  open,  gazing  around  over  the  congregation.  The  last 
sermon  he  preached  in  Dennis,  his  text  was :  —  "  And  Terah 
died  in  Haran."  Altogether  Mr.  Shaw  was  a  unique  figure 
in  the  pulpit ;  his  ministry  lasted  forty-one  years. 

The  minister  at  Orleans  over  the  Orthodox  church  for 
twenty  years  was  the  Rev.  Daniel  Johnson  ;  he  was  a  tall, 
dark,  saturnine  man ;  the  doctrines  he  preached  were  very 
satisfactory  to  my  father,  who  was  strongly  Calvinistic  in 
his  theology.  "  Mr.  Johnson,  "  I  once  heard  him  remark, 
"is  a  spiritual  preacher."  In  1828  Mr.  Johnson  removed 
from  Orleans. 

At  Brewster  was  settled  Rev.  John  Simpkins.  He  was 
frequently  in  our  church,  where  u  With  meek  and  unaffected 
grace,  his  looks  adorned  the  venerable  place."  He  was  a 
person  of  most  saintly  mien;  his  sermons  were  much  admired 
by  those  who  were  inclined  to  Unitarian  views.  He  usually 
read  for  his  morning  hymn  the  one  beginning,  "  Another 
six  days'  work  is  done,  another  Sabbath  has  begun."  He  re- 
signed his  pastorate  in  1831,  after  forty  years  of  ministerial 
labors. 

Rev.  John  Sanford  was  the  first  preacher  at  the 
church  at  South  Dennis.  He  was  a  person  of  much 
dignity  of  manner,  and  a  fine  pulpit  orator,  with  a  rich,  so- 
norous voice  and  good  delivery.     He  was  ordained  in  1837. 


49 

Mr.  Sanford  was  one  of  the  first  to  engage  in  the  crusade 
against  intemperance ;  I  remember  his  lecturing  in  our  meet- 
ing-house on  the  subject  soon  after  the  reform  had  com- 
menced, and  reading  with  fine  effect  the  hymn  commencing : 
"  Behold  the  wretch  whose  lust  and  wine,  Have  wasted  his 
estate."  He  was  succeeded  in  the  South  Dennis  church  by 
Rev.  Thacher  Thayer,  one  of  the  ablest  divines  who  ever  fill- 
ed a  pulpit  in  Barnstable  County. 

Time  would  fail  me  were  I  to  attempt  to  speak  of  other 
worthy  and  pious  ministers  whom  I  remember  at  different 
times  officiating  in  our  old  meeting-house :  Rev.  Nathan 
Underwood,  of  Harwich,  a  veteran  of  the  Revolutionary  war, 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Cogswell  of  Yarmouth,  Rev.  Henry  Hersey 
of  Barnstable,  Rev.  Enoch  Pratt  of  West  Barnstable  ;  all  of 
them,  with  one  exception,  have  long  since  finished  their  la- 
bors and  entered  into  their  rest,  but  their  glorified  spirits 
may  yet  hover  over  the  scene  of  their  earthly  toils. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  my  recollections  is  that  of  the  ec- 
centric Lorenzo  Dow  coming  to  our  place  and  preaching  from 
the  text :  "  Those  that  have  turned  the  world  upside  down, 
are  come  hither  also."  I  was  too  young  to  go  to  meeting, 
but  heard  it  talked  about.  This  advent  of  Lorenzo  Dow, 
marks  to  my  mind  the  beginning  of  an  era  of  change  in  relig- 
ious thought  upon  the  Cape;  but  though  doctrines  may 
change,  principles  remain.  "  One  generation  passeth  away 
and  another  cometh,  but  the  earth  abideth  forever."  To  my 
understanding  the  Apostle  Paul  struck  the  key  note  of  true 
religion  when  he  said  to  his  Philippian  bretheren  :  —  "What- 
soever things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatso- 
ever things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever 
things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report,  if 
there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these 
things." 


Rev.  George  W.  Osgood,  pastor  of  the  West  Yarmouth 
church,  was  next  called  upon. 

ADDRESS  OF  REV.   GEORGE  W.   OSGOOD. 

Respected    Pastor  of    our  Mother  Church,  Dear 
Brethren  and  Sisters  : 

In  the  name  of  your  youngest  daughter  I  salute  you. 
Having  been  here  only  long  enough  to  learn  how  to  talk,  I 


50 

am  unable  to  entertain  you  with  quaint  reminiscences  of  our 
fathers  and  mothers.  But  as  a  number  who  have  preceded 
me  have  dwelt  so  pleasantly  on  the  past,  its  memories  and 
its  associations,  it  may  be  well  for  me  to  think  of  the  present 
and  the  future.  And  to  this  end,  let  me  say  to  our  Ecclesias- 
tical Mother,  that  your  youngest  daughter  appreciates  to  some 
extent  the  God-given  doctrines  and  the  character-developing 
polity  that  we  have  inherited  from  our  ecclesiastical  ancestry. 
We  are  trying  to  be  true  to  our  inheritance,  that  the  families 
with  whom  we  live  may  be  effectually  persuaded  to  come 
with  us,  and  that  all  together  may  become  like  God  as  the 
days  go  by,  and  thus  become  more  and  more  fitted  for  our 
glorious  eternity,  as  day  by  day  we  are  drawing  nearer  to  it. 

We  realize  to  some  extent  the  difficulty  of  the  problem, 
since  men  persist  in  beginning  with  facts  and  reasoning 
God-ward  until  in  their  bewilderment  they  unite  with  the 
poet  in  exclaiming,  "  the  godless  look  of  earth  !  "  It  is  for 
us  to  take  a  higher  position  than  this,  and  under  God  to  try 
to  bring  them  up  to  our  level.  We  realize  that  we  shall  often 
find  ourselves  like  a  bundle  of  burning  tapers  in  which  the 
lowest  attack  those  higher  up,  and  all  together  conspire  to 
consume  the  tallest.  But  we  propose,  in  our  measure,  to  live 
over  the  life  of  Him  who  was,  and  is,  the  Light  of  the  world  ; 
who  always  began  with  God  and  reasoned  out  unto  fact ;  who 
never  complained  ;  who  never  doubted  God's  wisdom  and 
goodness :  who  never  despaired  of  the  future  ;  who  let  the 
origin  of  sin  alone  and  the  issues  of  sin  alone  ;  but  who  sim- 
ply contented  himself  with  bringing  every  ounce  of  his  spirit- 
ual might  practically  to  bear  upon  sin  itself,  that  he  might 
put  an  end  to  it.  How  it  bore  upon  his  great  and  sympa- 
thetic heart  to  see  his  dear  fellow-man  bending  down  under 
the  weight  of  sin  and  guilt  and  becoming  more  and  more  crush- 
ed thereby;  and  what  a  zest  of  spirit  did  he  bring  to 
bear  upon  the  heart  of  man  that  greatest  force  in  the  uni- 
verse, the  almighty  dynamics  of  the  redemptive  love  of  God ! 

It  is  our  aim,  as  a  church  of  the  Divine  Son  of  God,  to 
illustrate  the  power  of  his  gospel,  to  learn  to  think  of  God 
as  immanent  and  to  imitate  our  master  in  reasoning  from  God 
out  unto  life  until  our  very  existence,  beheld  from  this  stand- 
point, shall  be  transfigured  into  a  constant  inspiration  unto 
that  highest  ideal :  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever. 
If  great  material  possessions  will  help  us  in  this  line  we  de- 
sire them  ;  but  if  God  sees  that  they  would  stand  in  our  way, 
then  we  want  to  be  poor.     If  social  development  and  intel- 


51 

lectual  power  will  help  us,  we  would  like  them ;  but  if  God 
sees  that  they  would  hinder  us,  then  we  humbly  ask  to  be 
left  in  obscurity  and  to  have  simply  good,  common  sense. 
We  want  to  come  so  thoroughly  under  the  power  of  Christ 
that  we  shall  attain  to  the  consciousness  of  our  entire  nature. 
Then  we  shall  desire  the  highest  good,  and  shall  go  through 
our  clays  with  God,  even  as  the  ship  goes  with  the  wind,  with 
the  full  assurance  of  faith  in  him  who  wants  us  to  go  on  and 
up.  To  this  end  we  rejoice  in  living  in  this  beautiful  world 
of  test,  even  though  God  does  not  intend  any  of  his  children 
to  be  continuously  comfortable.  Even  though  the  ladder  is 
steep  that  he  expects  us  to  climb,  we  rejoice  in  the  climbing ; 
for  we  look  back  enough  to  see  that  it  is  darker  further  down, 
and  we  look  ahead  enough  to  see  that  it  is  lighter  further  up  ; 
and  thus  we  want  to  go  on,  aspiring  ever,  despairing  never, 
knowing  that  God  has  focused  all  the  rays  upon  the  top- 
most round. 

To  keep  our  spirit  calm,  we  are  learning  to  look  not  at 
the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are  not 
seen  :  "  for  the  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal ;  but  the 
things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal." 

In  proportion  as  we  realize  this,  our  ideal,  we  shall  feel 
and  you  will  feel,  that  your  youngest  daughter  is  proving 
herself  worthy  of  her  ecclesiastical  mother. 

Rev.  L.  P.  Atwood  was  introduced  as  the  representative 
of  the  first  granddaughter  church,  the  church  of  South  Den- 
nis being  a  colon}'  of  the  church  in  Dennis. 

ADDRESS  OF  REV.   L.   P.   ATWOOD. 

Respected  Grandmother  : 

We,  of  South  Dennis  Congregational  Church  gladly 
come  to  memorialize  the  beginning  of  a  life  which  made  our 
existence  possible. 

We  do  not  have  the  choice  of  our  parents,  nor  the  elec- 
tion of  the  place  of  our  birth  ;  yet  frequently,  from  the  hon- 
orable record  of  ancestry,  we  can  look  back  with  gratitude 
and  satisfaction,  not  to  say  pride,  and  say,  if  we  had  been 
consulted  in  the  case,  we  should  have  chosen  precisely  the 
parents  which  we  had,  and  the  place  where  we  began  to  be.  So 
this  day,  a  grandchild  of  the  venerable  Yarmouth  Congrega- 
tional Church  comes  to  worship  at  your  sacred  altars  and  ex- 
press satisfaction  and  joy  that  such  a  devout  spirit  has  ani- 
mated our  religious  life,  coming  from  you. 


52 

We  realize,  to-day,  it  is  impossible  to  do  honor  to  your 
name,  faith  and  memory  if  we  have  not  respected  and  cherish- 
ed the  important  scriptural  truths  for  which  you  lived  and 
contended  when  here  you  cast  your  lot,  resolved  to  worship 
and  honor  God.  Therefore,  we  assure  you  we  have  faithful- 
ly relied  upon,  and  taught,  at  the  nuptial  shrine,  the  sacred 
altar,  and  the  "  house  appointed  for  all  living, "  the  same 
great  comforting  truths  which  you  have  ever  taught,  and  the 
same  eternal  visions  of  hope  and  faith  beside  the  honored 
mound,  cherishing  the  ashes  of  our  departed  ones.  We  re- 
member, too,  that  the  history  of  our  life  and  faith  cannot  be 
made  worthy  by  mere  flattery,  much  less  by  fulsome  formal 
words,  however  chosen  and  refined.  Nor  ought  you  to  rec- 
ognize any  caresses,  if  we  have  not  honored  your  faith  by  the 
spirit  in  which  we  have  fraternized  among  ourselves.  We 
are  not  content  to  be  kindly  and  respectfully  recognized  by 
you,  welcomed  here  to-day  to  participate  in  these  appropriate 
services,  but  we  are  here  with  free  and  hearty  will  to  become 
"  laborers  together  "  in  promoting  the  truth  which  is  most  vi- 
tal to  your  highest  success  and  spiritual  thrift,  and  which  you 
cherish  as  the  necessary  quality  of  resemblance.  Every  true 
utterance  of  yours  we  will  echo  ;  the  essential  doctrine  you 
urge  shall  find  its  response  in  us ;  all  your  holy  outreachings, 
to  rescue  the  children  of  men,  and  present  them  to  Christ, 
we  will  imitate  ;  all  you  excel  in  doing  we  endeavor  to  do  as 
well,  since  the  same  spirit  animates  our  hearts  and  nerves 
our  arm.  That  for  which  you  are  ambitious  shall  kindle  our 
ardor.  When  you  come  up  here  to  worship,  remember  we 
are  visiting  our  altars  in  humble  devotion,  at  the  same  "  com- 
mon mercy-seat."  When  you  pray  for  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  those  who  love  God  in  sincerity  and  truth,  know 
our  prayers  are  ascending  for  you,  invoking  grace  to  ripen  in 
you  every  Christian  virtue.  We  do  not  ask  flattery,  nor  ex- 
cuse of  our  faults,  but  advice  and  counsel.  Yet,  it  is 
of  some  worth  to  have  lived  through  these  last  fifty  years. 
If  you  grappled  with  the  great  essential  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, we  have  found  it  difficult  to  apply  them,  coming, 
however,  through  the  ordeal  with  credit,  and  challenging 
the  admiration  of  those  who  once  only  envied.  That  we 
would  provide  for  perpetuating  the  faith  once  delivered  to 
the  saints,  see  here  our  youthful  vitality,  in  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor, 
the  active  laborers  in  our  field  earnestly  engaged  to  spread 
vital  piety  throughout  our  parish.     They  constitute  an  ele- 


53 

ment  not  at  all  recognized  when  this  mother  of  the  sur- 
rounding churches  was  valiant  to  do  her  best  work  for  the 
master.  They  come  putting  themselves  into  sympathy  with 
this  day's  memories,  to  catch  whatever  of  inspiration  there 
can  be  in  the  touch  of  these  associations,  and  to  become  con- 
secrated anew  to  serve  God  more  effectively  hereafter. 

It  may  truthfully  be  inferred  we  have  been  meeting  the 
moral  demands  of  our  locality  since  God's  providence  has 
committed  to  us  the  care  of  spiritual  things  in  our  neighbor- 
hood. But  we  would  not  be  lulled  to  sleep,  presuming  we 
are  essentially  correct  in  faith  and  practice,  because  we  are 
left  undisturbed.  Instead,  we  desire  to  be  so  active  and 
efficient  in  our  work,  that  all  good  enterprises  may  look  to  us 
for  co-operation  and  encouragement. 

We  wish  we  were  more  in  number  here  today ;  but  we 
felicitate  ourselves  in  that  we  have  sent  out  many  of  our  sons 
and  daughters  to  do  honorable  service  in  many  of  our  cities, 
and  that  some  are  at  their  homes  praying  for  us  to-day,  while 
others  are  absent  upon  the  mighty  deep  honoring  your  mem- 
ory and  their  connection  with  us.  Whatever  the  future  years 
may  be,  we  here  and  now  promise  you  shall  not  need  to  be 
ashamed  of  us.  *-The  children  of  the  elect  sister  greet 
thee ! " 


Rev.  G.  I.  Ward,  of  the  New  Jerusalem  church  of  Yar- 
mouthport,  responded  briefly  and  cordially  in  behalf  of  that 
society,  but  as  his  remarks  were  extemporaneous  he  has  not 
been  able  to  recall  them.  The  closing  address  was  by  Rev. 
C.  A.  Bradley  of  the  Universalist  church. 

ADDRESS  OF   REV.   C.   A.   BRADLEY. 

My  Christian  Friends:  — 

My  word  must  be  brief.  In  behalf  of  the  Universalist 
Church  of  Yarmouth,  I  express  thanks  for  the  kind  invita- 
tion to  participate  in  the  exercises  of  this  interesting  anni- 
versary, and  for  the  cordial  greeting  which  has  been  ex- 
tended to  us.  Those  who  have  preceded  me  have  saluted 
this  venerable  church  as  the  mother  and  grandmother  of  their 
respective  churches.  I  do  not  know  that  she  regards  the 
Universalist  church  as  her  offspring.  If  she  does  recognize 
the  relationship,  I  apprehend  that  she  may  sometimes  have 
regarded  her  child  as  wayward  and  undutiful.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  we  come   to-day  with  our  Christian  salutation,  make 


54 

your  rejoicing  our  own,  and  with  you,  out  of  the  past  gather 
encouragement  for  a  future  of  grander  achievement. 

The  founders  of  the  church  which  I  have  the  honor  to 
represent,  were  reared  at  your  altar.  Hither  they  came  to 
worship,  bringing  their  offerings  of  praise  and  thangsgiving. 
To  it  they  were  very  warmly  attached  ;  around  it  clustered 
many  blessed  memories,  many  hallowed  associations ;  here 
devout  parents  have  brought  them  to  be  consecrated  to  God. 
They  have  often  told  me  of  the  spiritual  conflicts  they  ex- 
perienced when  they  took  themselves  away  from  this,  that 
they  might  establish  an  altar  of  their  own.  They  left  their 
old  religious  home  and  their  associations  with  no  unkindness 
in  their  hearts;  it  was  not  because  a  cloud  had  passed  over 
their  vision  of  faith,  —  they  were  not  infidels;  it  was  not  be- 
cause they  disbelieved  the  Bible  which  they  had  been  taught 
to  reverence,  they  clung  to  it  more  closely  as  a  lamp  to  their 
feet  and  a  guide  to  their  path  ;  it  was  not  because  they  had 
ceased  to  look  to  Jesus  as  the  author  and  finisher  of  their 
faith,  —  the  name  of  Jesus  had  become  more  precious  to  them, 
but  the}^  left  their  early  religious  home  because  necessity 
was  laid  upon  them,  because  they  were  true  to  their  convic- 
tions. They  did  not  question  the  honesty  of  those  from  whom 
they  separated  themselves,  but  they  did  assert  their  own. 
They  left  to  their  children  a  rich  legacy  of  Christian  hope  and 
assurance. 

And  at  the  present  time,  whatever  our  differences,  I  take 
pleasure  in  testifying  to  the  most  cordial  relations  existing  be- 
tween this  ancient  church  and  my  own.  We  meet  together, 
not  as  foes  nor  as  heretics,  but  in  mutual  respect,  as  Chris- 
tians. And  I  do  most  heartily  reciprocate  the  fraternal 
feeling  my  brother,  your  pastor,  has  expressed  toward  m}'- 
self  and  my  people.  During  the  many  years  we  have  been  co- 
laborers  in  this  field,  nothing  has  occurred  to  disturb  the 
friendly  relations  which  should  ever  exist  between  those  who 
are  striving  to  build  God's  Kingdom  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

It  is  frequently  said  that  the  several  Christian  denomin- 
ations are  rapidl}r  approaching  each  other,  and  that  the  time 
is  at  hand  when,  as  of  old,  there  will  be  but  one  creed  and 
one  church.  I  do  not  entertain  the  hope.  The  fundamental 
principle  of  Protestanism  asserts  the  right  of  private  judgement 
in  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  This  necessarily  leads 
to  a  diversity  of  opinion,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  lead  to 
spiritual  antagonism  and  hatred.  I  do  not  see  that  we  are 
moving  toward  each  other,  but  I  think  I  do  see,  and  I  trust 


55 

I  am  not  mistaken,  Jesus  is  becoming  more  and  more  the  cen- 
ter of  the  thoughts  and  affections  of  all ;  that,  as  never  before, 
we  are  all  beholding  his  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  from 
the  Father ;  that  we  of  all  sects,  are  marching  in  ever  con- 
verging lines  directly  toward  Him  who  is  our  Head,  and  in 
whom  our  union  will  be  complete. 

May  God  richly  bless  this  ancient  church  and,  with  it, 
all  our  churches. 


The  following  letters  were  then  read  from  the  only  two 
surviving  pastors,  Rev.  Abel  K.  Packard,  of  Greeley,  Colora- 
do, and  Rev.  J.  B.  Clark,  D.  D.,  Secretary  of  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society : 

Greeley,  Colo.,  August  26, 1889. 
Rev.  J.  W.  Dodge, 

Yarmouth,  Mass. 
My  Dear  Brother  : 

When  I  received  your  letter  I  had  a  faint  hope,  and  much 
desire,  that  I  might  be  able  to  be  at  Yarmouth  at  your  cele- 
bration. I  had  mislaid  your  letter  and  was  not  thinking  the 
time  was  so  near,  till  my  daughter  brought  me  Saturday,  your 
letter  to  her. 

"  Quarter  Millennial !  *  I  would  indeed  like  to  have  a 
part  in  such  a  celebration,  even  if  I  had  not  the  interest  in 
Yarmouth  I  have.  Twenty  years  makes  a  town  or  church 
old  here.  This  town  was  only  four  years  old  when  I  came 
to  it.  I  preached  here  about  as  long  as  at  Yarmouth,  eight 
years,  and  seven  years  have  passed  since.  There  are  trees  here 
planted  since  the  settlement,  more  than  twice  as  large  in 
circumference  and  height  as  those  I  planted  in  Yarmouth  were 
when  I  saw  them  last ;  as  perfect  lawns  as  I  can  imagine. 
We  have  three-story  brick  blocks,  street  railway,  Holly 
water  works,  steam  fire  engine,  elegant  and  costly  dwellings, 
churches  and  other  buildings  lighted,  as  well  as  the  streets 
and  parks,  with  electricity.  We  have  four  newspapers,  pub- 
lic library,  schools  with  nearly  a  score  of  teachers  and  eight 
self-supporting  churches,  and  this  in  the  heart  of  what  was 
designated  on  the  maps  when  I  lived  in  Yarmouth,"  The 
Great  American  Desert." 

The  years,  and  the  centuries,  are  both  longer  and 
shorter  than  they  were  in  the  old  times.  The  last  hundred 
years  have  been  more  crowded  with  events,  with  wants  and 
supplies,  than  the  years  that  went  before.     They  have  wit- 


56 

nessed  far  more  changes,  and  accomplished  more  results, 
than  many  centuries  preceding.  But  there  is  good  reason 
for  our  natural  reverence  for  antiquity.  I  would  love  es- 
pecially to  help  celebrate  the  history  of  Yarmouth ;  but  I 
suspect,  if  I  were  to  be  there  next  Sunday,  my  chief  inter- 
est in  Yarmouth's  history  would  not  be  about  its  beginning. 
My  heart  would  get  warmest,  and  my  eyes  moist,  as  they 
do  now,  when  I  heard,  or  thought,  of  Yarmouth  as  I  first  saw 
it,  and  of  the  men  and  women  and  children  whom  I  honored 
and  loved  as  I,  personally,  knew  them.  Many  of  them  long 
ago  passed  into  the  state  of  the  "  blessed  dead, "  but  are 
alive  forever  more,  and  often  come  as  vividly  to  my  remem- 
brance as  any  that  remain,  or  as  friends  I  meet  here.  The 
old  burial  place  there  would  have  an  interest  for  me  beyond 
what  it  used  to  have.  My  associations  with  the  Yarmouth 
church  and  people  have  a  kind  of  sacredness  in  my  mind  : 
they  are  happy,  sad,  and  mingled,  but  generally  pleasant.  I 
cannot  indulge  the  expression  of  them  in  this  letter.  I  beg 
you  to  convey  to  the  church  my  hearty  congratulations  on 
its  honorable  history,  and  my  earnest  wishes  for  its  future 
prosperity,  and  the  assurance  that  I  often  remember  it  in  my 
prayers. 

I  referred  to  the  rapidity  with  which  towns  and  commun- 
ities are  now  founded  and  builded.  I  hear  much  in  new 
communities  of  the  responsibility  of  those  who  are  at  the  be- 
ginnings. But  I  often  think  how  the  materials  for  building 
these  new  towns  and  churches  are  brought,  like  those  for  Sol- 
omon's temple,  ready  prepared  elsewhere,  so  that  the  old 
communities  are  determining  the  new. 

My  thoughts  will  be  much  with  you  Sunday,  and  it 
would  give  me  a  rare  pleasure  to  be  actually  with  you,  and  I 
shall  desire  to  learn  of  the  services  of  the  church  and  town 
anniversaries. 

The  Lord  greatly  bless  you  and  the  people  and  prolong 
your  ministry  and  make  it  increasingly  useful. 

Yours  heartily, 

A.  K.  Packard. 


New  York,  August  3,  1889. 
Rev.  John  W.  Dodge,  Yarmouth,  Mass. 

My  Dear  Brother  : — 

I  have   held  your  letter  of    July  27th,  several   days, 
hoping  for  a  way  out  of  the  complication  which  seemed  to 


57 

forbid  my  acceptance  of  your  kind  invitation.  I  leave  for 
an  extended  tour  in  the  West,  the  first  week  in  September. 
This  means  thirty  busy  days  of  preparation  in  order  to  leave 
business  matters  in  a  forward  condition  at  the  office.  Just 
at  the  time  of  your  celebration,  I  shall  be  in  the  thick  of  this 
work  doing  last  things  in  preparation  for  a  long  absence.  I 
do  not  see  in  the  first  place  how  to  be  away  from  home  dur- 
ing the  early  days  of  September,  still  less  do  I  see  any  oppor- 
tunity for  previous  preparation  such  as  I  would  desire  to 
make,  if  I  were  to  take  the  part  which  you  have  suggested. 
Therefore  I  must  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  your  kindness 
and  for  the  honor  intended  and  regret  profoundly  that  I  can- 
not even  take  part  as  a  spectator  in  your  quarter-millennial 
celebration.  1  am  thankful  every  day  that  my  ministry  be- 
gan on  Cape  Cod  and  in  old  Yarmouth.  I  have  a  feeling  for 
that  place  and  church  and  people  that  I  share  with  no  other. 
Something  of  this  is  doubtless  due  to  its  being  a  young  min- 
ister's first  love.  But  more,  I  think  is  due  to  the  people 
themselves.  I  do  not  know  where  in  the  world  to  look  for 
nobler  men  and  women  than  I  have  seen  and  known  on  Cape 
Cod.  I  wish  you  would  give  my  kindest  regards  to  the  few 
of  my  old  people  who  still  live  to  keep  with  you  this  inter- 
esting day.  Most  of  those  with  whom  I  labored  are  now  on 
the  other  side.  I  should  feel  more  at  home  in  the  cemetery, 
reading  their  names,  than  I  should  in  the  church.  But  for 
the  sake  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  whom  I  knew,  I  still 
have  a  most  kindly  feeling  for  their  children  and  extend  to 
them  my  heartiest  congratulations  upon  this  quarter-millenial 
anniversary. 

With  kind  regards  personally,  I  am, 

Truly  yours, 

Jos.  B.  Clark. 


The  exercises  closed  with  the  singing  of  a  hymn  and  the 
benediction.  The  spirit  of  the  occasion  was  of  the  happiest. 
No  event  has  occurred  in  the  religious  history  of  the  town 
since  the  earliest  days  that  has  tended  to  promote  harmony 
and  mutual  confidence  comparable  with  this.  May  its  effects 
prove  as  lasting  as  they  have  been  happy. 


THE  TOWN   CELEBRATION. 

The  day  appointed,  September  3,  1889,  was  exception- 
ally fine.  The  charm  of  early  autumn  was  over  all  the  land- 
scape. The  waters  of  the  bay  reflected  the  bluest  of  skies. 
The  salt  meadows  were  putting  on  their  earliest  shades  of 
yellow  and  brown,  while  the  maples  and  elms  that  line  the 
street  borders  were  radiant  in  their  brighter  hues.  It  was 
the  first  memorial  day  in  the  annnals  of  the  town,  and  there 
was  a  thrill  of  expectancy  in  all  hearts.  The  Scotchman 
loves  his  heathery  hills,  and  the  Swiss,  his  Alpine  valleys, 
but  not  more  ardently  than  does  the  denizen  of  Cape  Cod 
his  sea-girt  home.  The  sentiment  of  their  own  poet  finds  a 
response  on  occasions  like  these : 

"  We  lift  tl)e  Pilgrirqs  -war  cry  still 

For  Freedorq  arid  for  God, 
Arid  v^ear  as  proudest  title  yet 

Tl\e  Soris  of  old  Cape  Cod.  " 

Animated  with  such  feelings,  the  children  of  Old  Yar- 
mouth returned  to  honor  the  memory  of  those  who  came  here 
for  liberty  of  conscience,  and  to  lay  the  foundation  of  many 
generations.  There  was  a  cordial  co-operation  on  the  part 
of  all  to  make  the  occasion  worthy  of  a  glorious  past  and 
when  the  day  was  over  there  was  but  one  expression  and  that 
was  —  that  it  had  been  a  grand  success. 

The  decoration  of  the  town  was  done  under  the  super- 
vision of  Charles  Thacher,  Esq.,  the  flags  and  other  ornaments 


59 

being  furnished  by  Col.  William  Beals  of  Boston.  An  arch 
decorated  with  bunting  and  wreaths  spanned  Railroad  Ave- 
nue. It  bore  the  inscription  "  Sons  and  Daughters  of  Yar- 
mouth Welcome  Home  "  — and  "Mattacheese,  1639.  —  Yar- 
mouth 1889."  "Another  arch,  similarly  decorated,  near  the  old 
church,  bore  the  mottoes  —  "  Yarmouth  and  Dennis  honor 
their  Common  Ancestry  to-day,"  and  on  the  reverse  face, 
"  Foremost  in  Enterprise  on  Land  and  Sea."  The  decorating 
of  the  arches  was  very  tastefully  executed  by  Mr.  Joshua 
Sears,  of  Boston,  and  contributed  gratuitously  for  the  occa- 
sion ;  on  the  old  church  front  were  the  inscriptions  "The  old 
Religious  Centre ;"  "  The  glory  of  Children  are  their  Fathers." 
On  the  residence  of  Mr.  Benjamin  R.  Howes,  the  former 
home  of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Cogswell,  for  many  years  pastor,  was 
the  inscription  "The  site  of  the  old  parsonage."  Mr.  A.  C. 
Snow's  house  bore  the  legend : 

"Of  •wt\at  avail  is  plow  or  sail 
Ori  lai\d  or  sea,  if  freedom  fail." 

The  spot  on  which  the  first  house  was  erected  near  the  sum- 
mer cottage  of  Mr.  Thomas  Thacher  was  marked  by  a  flag  a 
little  distance  from  the  street  and  easily  recognized.  The 
house  occupied  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Lovell,  that  owned  by 
Mr.  Henry  C.  Thacher,  now  unoccupied,  at  the  head  of  wharf 
lane,  and  the  house  occupied  by  Mr.  Eben  A.  Hallet,  being 
the  three  oldest  houses  in  town  were  indicated  by  signs  show- 
ing the  date  of  their  erection.  The  Thacher  homestead,  now 
owned  by  George  T.  Thacher,  Esq.,  built  in  1686,  was  also 
appropriately  designated.  The  house  in  which  the  brothers 
John,  Asa  and  Oliver  Eldridge,  well-known  shipmasters,  were 
born,  was  fitly  marked.  Flags  spanned  the  streets  at  inter- 
vals throughout  the  town.  Citizens  vied  with  each  other  in 
decorating  their  houses  in  the  most  appropriate  ways.  Scarce- 
ly a  house  but  had  some  fitting  token  for  the  occasion,  giv- 
ing a  brilliant  holiday  appearance  to  the  entire  village. 
Among  those  especially  noticeable  for  their  good  taste,  were 
the  following :  The  Register  Office,  Charles  Thacher,  Charles 
F.  Swift,  E.  D.  Payne,  D.  G.  Eldridge,  Item  Office,  H.  Q. 


60 

Brigham,  Allen  H.  Knowles,  George  Otis,  Insurance  Office, 
Doane  &  Guyer,  Mrs.  Almira  Hallet,  Isaac  F.  Gorham,  First 
National  Bank,  Reuben  Howes,  William  P.  and  William  J. 
Davis,  Howes  Cottage,  John  Simpkins,  Thacher  T.  Hallet, 
Fred.  Hallett,  Daniel  B.  Crocker,  Mrs.  Clara  Sears,  George  W. 
Thacher,  Mrs.  Sarah  Baker,  R.  H.  Harris,  Mrs.  Nathaniel 
Matthews,  Edward  B.  Hallet,  J.  G.  Thacher,  A.  C.  Snow,  A. 
H.  Eldridge,  2d.,  Phoebe  W.  Crocker,  Zenas  H.  Snow,  Joseph 
Bassett,  William  D.  Loring,  Capt.  Thomas  Matthews,  Mrs. 
Lucy  Taylor,  Mrs.  Charles  Sears,  Kilburn  M.  Taylor,  Mrs. 
Benjamin  Hallet,  Miss  Deborah  Hamblin,  A.  C.  Megathlin, 
H.  C.  Thacher,  Mrs.  Alice  Matthews,  George  W.  Simpkins, 
George  Hallet,  George  Nickerson,  Jr.,  Joseph  H.  Bray,  El- 
bridge  Taylor,  H.  L.  Kern,  Seth  Taylor,  E.  S.  Waite,  Charles 
H.  Gorham,  David  Nickerson,  Luther  Baker,  Miss  Martha 
Thacher,  Mrs.  Edmund  Hamblin,  Mrs.  Edwin  Thacher,  B. 
R.  Howes,  Rev.  John  W.  Dodge,  Seth  H.  Hamblin,  Mrs. 
Bethiah  Whelden,  Samuel  H.  Thacher,  Watson  Thacher, 
Freeman  Howes,  John  Lundberg,  Mrs.  Deborah  Bray,  I.  H. 
Thacher,  George  Hallet,  2d. 


The  literary  exercises  were  held  in  the  Congregational 
church,  which  was  tastefully  decorated  for  the  occasion.  Long 
before  the  appointed  hour  every  available  seat  was  taken, 
and  crowds  of  people  thronged  the  grounds  in  the  vicinity. 
It  had  been  arranged  that  there  should  be  special  trains  on 
the  Old  Colony  Railroad  from  Boston,  New  Bedford  and 
Provincetown.  Large  numbers  of  people  arrived  on  these 
trains,  and  many  came  in  private  carriages  from  the  imme- 
diately adjoining  towns.  The  invited  guests  were  received  at 
the  station  by  Messrs.  Fred  C.  Swift,  Obed  Baker,  George  T. 
Thacher,  Cyrus  Hall,  C.  M.  Underwood,  andC.  S.  Knowles,  of 
the  Committee  on  Reception,  and  were  conducted  to  the  car- 
riages assigned  to  them.  The  Governor  by  reason  of  illness, 
was  unable  to  be  present,  but  the  Lieut.-Governor  very  grace- 
fully and  acceptably  filled  his  place. 


61 

THE  PROCESSION 

formed  at  Railroad  Avenue  a  little  after  11  o'clock  A.  M.,  the 
train  from  Boston  having  been  somewhat  delayed.  It  was 
composed  as  follows : 

Detachment  of  Police,  under  Command  of  Capt.  Charles  M. 

Bray. 
Boston  Cadet  Band,  J.  T.  Baldwin,  leader. 

Chief  Marshal,  John  Simpkins. 

Aids,  Edmund  Eldridge,  Thomas  C.  Thacher. 

Cavalcade  under  Command  of  Capt.  Frank  Thacher. 

Guests  in  carriages,  Lieut.-Governor  Brackett  and  staff, 

Councillors  Mudge  and  Tufts, 

Treasurer  Marden,  and  other  Invited  Guests. 

President  of  the  Day,  Orator  and  Chaplains. 

Aged  Citizens  in  carriage,  driven  by  Freeman  Howes,  Esq. 

Whaleboat  gaily  decorated,  containing  Thirteen  Girls  repre- 

resenting  the  Original  States. 

The  line  of  march  was  down  Railroad  Avenue,  along  Hallet 
street  to  Main  street  as  far  as  the  First  Congregational  church, 
the  route  being  necessarily  shortened  owing  to  the  lateness 
of  the  hour.  The  streets  were  thronged  with  people,  and 
cheers  went  up  at  various  points  along  the  way,  as  well- 
known  personages  were  recognized  in  the  passing  carriages. 

The  exercises  at  the  church  were  conducted  by  Rev. 
John  W.  Dodge.  Among  those  present  were  his  Honor  the 
Lieut.-Governor,  Councillors  Mudge  and  Swift,  Cols.  New- 
man, Woods  and  Bennet  of  the  staff,  Treasurer  George  A. 
Marden,  Hon.  W.  W.  Crapo,  Alpheus  H.  Hardy,  Joshua  M. 
Sears,  Capt.  Thomas  Prince  Howes,  Rev.  Dr.  Jeremiah  Tay- 
lor, Judge  Darius  Baker,  Capt.  Richard  Matthews,  Joshua  C. 
Howes  and  others. 

Mr.  Charles  A.  Clark,  of  Salem,  presided  at  the  organ, 
and  the  chorus  was  composed  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  from 
the  two  towns,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  William  N.  Stet- 
son, of  South  Yarmouth. 


62 

At  a  quarter  to  twelve  o'clock  the  exercises  commenced 
with  an  organ  voluntary,  by  Mr.  Clark,  which  was  followed 
by  Keller's  American  Hymn,  effectively  rendered  by  Miss 
Emma  C.  Baker,  soloist,  supported  by  the  chorus. 

The  words  of  the  hymn  are  as  follows  : 

"Speed  our  republic,  O  Father,  on  high ! 
Lead  us  in  pathways  of  justice  and  right ; 
Rulers  as  well  as  the  ruled,  one  and  all 
Girdle  with  virture,  the  armor  of  might ! 

Foremost  in  battle  for  freedom  to  stand, 
We  rush  to  arms  when  aroused  by  its  call ; 
Still  as  if  when  George  Washington  led, 
Thunder  our  war-cry,  We  conquer  or  fall ! 

Faithful  and  honest  to  friend  and  to  foe, 
Willing  to  die  in  humanity's  cause, 
Thus  we  defy  all  tyrannical  power, 
While  we  contend  for  our  Union  and  Laws. 

Rise  up,  Proud  Eagle,  rise  up  to  the  clouds, 
Spread  thy  broad  wings  o'er  this  fair  western  world, 
Fling  from  thy  beak  our  dear  banner  of  old, 
Show  that  it  still  is  for  Freedom  unfurled ! 

Chorus  : 

Hail !  Three  times  hail  to  our  country,  and  flag. 

PRAYER  OF  REV.  JOHN   W.   DODGE. 

Thine,  O  Lord,  is  the  greatness,  and  the  power,  and  the 
glory,  and  the  victory,  and  the  majesty ;  for  all  that  is  in  the 
Heaven  and  in  the  earth  is  Thine ;  Thine  is  the  kingdom, 
O  Lord,  and  Thou  art  exalted  as  head  above  all.  Thou  only 
hast  immortality.  A  thousand  years  in  Thy  sight  are  but  as 
yesterday  when  it  is  passed,  and  as  a  watch  in  the  night.  All 
the  generations  have  come  forth  at  Thy  bidding.  They  have 
done  that  which  Thou  gavest  them  to  do.  They  have  re- 
flected Thy  glory  in  the  use  of  the  light  that  Thou  hast  given 
them. 

We  give  Thee  thanks  for  our  fathers,  for  their  faith,  their 
courage,  their  self-sacrifice  and  their  devotion  to  duty.  We 
rejoice  in  their  lofty  ideas  of  the  future,  towards  which  they 
wrought  so  faithfully.  They  looked  for  a  city  that  hath 
foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God.     In  the  day  of 


63 

small  things  they  saw  the  grandeur  of  the  future  and  grasped 
the  greatness  of  the  promise.  They  built  deep  and  wide  the 
foundations  of  a  noble  temple.  We  thank  Thee  for  the 
wisdom  that  characterized  their  laws  ;  that  they  were  led  by 
the  spirit  to  translate  Thy  perfect  law  into  theirs  to  so  large 
an  extent,  and  to  fashion  their  commonwealth  after  the  pat- 
tern that  had  been  given  in  the  Mount.  We  thank  Thee  for  the 
principles  of  freedom  that  animated  them  from  the  beginning, 
and  especially  that  they  were  ready  to  peril  all,  that  they 
might  secure  freedom  to  worship  God. 

We  thank  Thee  for  the  ancestors  of  this  ancient  town, 
whose  virtues  have  been  perpetuated  through  eight  genera- 
tions to  the  present.  Thou  hast  been  with  them  on  sea  and 
land,  in  prosperity  and  adversity,  in  peace  and  in  war.  Thou 
hast  presided  over  their  deliberations  in  the  interest  of  pub- 
lic safety,  of  education  and  of  religion.  Thou  didst  defend 
them  in  the  beginning  from  the  savage.  Thou  preservedst 
them  from  threatening  famine  and  pestilence.  Thou  wast  a 
shield  to  them  in  weakness.  Through  Thy  fostering  care 
their  interests  upon  the  sea  have  been  promoted,  and  they 
have  been  safely  returned  again  and  again  from  their  voyages 
over  the  treacherous  ocean.  Thou  hast  taught  them  hardi- 
hood and  patience  by  their  privations  and  their  toils.  Thou 
but  made  this  place  a  nursery  for  strong  and  enterprising 
and  self-reliant  men  and  women.  Here  Thou  hast 
trained  them  to  sagacious  forecast,  to  self-sacrifice  and  to  pray- 
er. It  has  been  Thy  pleasure,  O  God,  that  there  should  go 
forth  from  this  town,  many  brave  and  faithful  men  and  wo- 
men to  lay  foundations  of  other  towns  in  our  land,  to  preach 
Thy  word,  to  teach  the  young,  to  expound  the  law,  to 
cure  the  sick,  to  engage  in  commerce  and  trade,  and  to  do 
valiant  service  in  all  honorable  ways  for  the  whole  country. 
May  Thy  favor  still  shine  upon  them  wherever  they  may  be. 
Bless  the  home-coming  to-day!  May  all  hearts  be  warmed 
anew  in  social  and  faternal  love  around  the  old  hearth-stone. 
May  a  new  devotion  to  this  home  of  the  fathers  be  awak- 
ened in  the  breasts  of  all  the  sons  and  daughters  who  are 
with  us  to-day,  and  may  they  ever  share  richly  with  us  in  Thy 
blessing,  for  the  life  that  now  is,  and  the  richer  inheritance  of 
eternal  redemption. 

Bless,  we  beseech  Thee,  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  this 
great  Commonwealth  !  Be  very  gracious  to  him  in  his  pres- 
ent illness.  Restore  him  to  health  and  uphold  him  in  the 
discharge  of  his  high  duties.     Let  Thy  favor  be  upon  Thy 


64 

servant,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  who  is  with  us  to-day,  with 
his  councillors  and  the  officers  of  his  staff.  Remember  gra- 
ciously all  the  members  of  our  state  government  who  have 
gathered  with  us  to  honor  the  memory  of  a  noble  ancestry. 
Bless  the  orator  of  this  occasion,  who  comes  back  to  render  a 
grateful  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  fathers,  as  a  labor  of 
love.  May  the  exercises  of  the  day  be  an  inspiration  and  a 
joy  to  all  who  participate  in  them,  and  may  we  all  who  now 
assemble  here,  be  gathered  at  last  in  Thy  kingdom  on  high, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Redeemer.     Amen. 


After  the  Quarter-Millenial  prayer,  Rev.  Mr.  Dodge  in- 
troduced the  orator  of  the  day  as  follows : 

It  is  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  that  the  town  has  been 
able  to  secure  as  the  Orator  of  this  occasion  a  native  of  the 
old  town,  and  a  lineal  descendant  of  one  of  its  most  notable 
founders,  —  Richard  Sears, — sometimes  called  "The  Pilgrim." 
A  gentleman  born  on  the  ancestral  acres,  who  has  himself 
shed  lustre  on  the  names  he  bears,  in  the  profession  of  the 
law.  I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  as  the  Orator  of  the 
day, 

PHILIP  HOWES  SEARS. 

In  the  light  of  this  auspicious  morning,  which  ushers  in 
the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of 
this  ancient  town  of  Yarmouth,  I  greet  this  great  assembly 
that  has  gathered  here  for  its  celebration ;  I  greet  the  de- 
scendants of  Pilgrim  fathers  and  of  primeval  emigrants  to 
these  shores,  who  have  inherited  that  spirit  which  makes 
this  anniversary  so  welcome ;  I  greet  the  settlers  and  the 
sons  of  settlers  of  later  times,  who  have  here  imbibed  the 
same  spirit,  and  who  join  with  the  same  heart  in  honoring 
the  primitive  fathers ;  I  greet  those  who  have  come  hither 
to-day  from  other  dwelling-places  to  unite  with  us  in  com- 
memorating the  founding  and  building  of  these  typical  old 
colony  communities;  I  invite  you  all  to  lay  aside  for  awhile 
the  busy  life  of  to-day,  and  to  live  for  a  brief  space  with  the 
men  and  the  days  of  old. 


65 

Far  away  in  remote  geological  ages  this  long  outstretch- 
ed projection  of  the  mainland  was  gradually  formed  and  pre- 
pared to  become  eventually  the  fitting  seat  of  intelligent  life. 
In  the  slow  lapse  of  time  all  its  upland  surface  from  the 
borders  of  Plymouth  to  the  extreme  point  of  Provincetown 
became  covered  with  a  continuous  forest,  reaching  to  the 
water's  edge,  while  at  the  same  time  its  vast  tracts  of  tree- 
less marsh  land  adjacent  to  its  streams  became  overgrown 
with  luxuriant  grass,  which  for  season  after  season  only  help- 
ed to  fertilize  the  ever-deepening  soil ;  for  centuries  before 
the  Pilgrims  set  foot  on  Plymouth  Rock  a  peculiar  race  of 
savage  men  had  here  found  a  congenial  habitation,  roaming 
freely  through  the  unmeasured  woodlands  for  game,  drawing 
abundantly  from  the  neighboring  bays  and  brooks  a  rich  va- 
riety of  fishes,  and  cultivating  Indian  corn  upon  the  isolated 
patches  of  ground  from  which  they  had  succeeded  in  clear- 
ing off  the  native  forest ;  in  the  succession  of  revolving  years 
at  length  the  great  year  sixteen  hundred  thirty-nine(A.  D. 
1639)  arrived  when  this  territory  reached  the  destination  for 
which  all  its  previous  history  had  been  preparing  —  it  be- 
came the  home  and  theatre  of  action  for  a  community  of  civ- 
ilized men.  In  the  Records  of  the  Colony  of  Plymouth  un- 
der the  date  of  January  seventeenth  (17th)  sixteen  hundred 
and  thirty-nine  (A.  D.  1639)  N.  S.,  this  entry  appears ; 

"The  names    of    those    to  )  Mr.  Anthony  Thacher, 

whom  the  grant  of  the  land  at  I  Mr.  Thoma/Howes, 

Mattacheeset,  now  called  Yar-  (  ^r  jQjin  Qrow#» 
month,  is  made.                           J 

(1  Plym.  Col.  Rec.  p  108.) 

Under  the  authority  of  this  grant,  Anthony  Thacher, 
Thomas  Howes,  John  Crow  and  their  associates  proceeded  to 
settle  and  organize  the  town  of  Yarmouth. 

What  were  these  men  who  thus  undertook  to  establish 
a  new  civil  and  ecclesiastical  community  ?  What  were  their 
motives,  aims  and  ideals  ?  What  kind  of  life  did  they  live 
here  in  their  new  settlement  ?  What  did  they  accomplish  in 
their  day  and  generation  ?     What  has  been  accomplished  by 


66 

those  who  came  after  them  ?  What  remains  to  be  accom- 
plished in  the  coming  time  by  those  who  may  here  succeed 
them  ?  What  do  we  owe  them,  what  does  the  world  owe 
them  for  the  work  which  they  inaugurated,  and  the  work 
which  they  performed?  The  topics  that  crowd  upon  the 
mind  at  a  time  like  this  are  manifold  and  vast,  but  only  a 
hasty  glance  at  the  most  important  of  them  is  possible  in  the 
flying  moments  of  this  occasion. 

The  doctrine  of  evolution  has  in  our  times  brought  the 
principle  of  heredity  into  special  prominence  ;  it  may  be  in- 
teresting, therefore,  to  notice  in  the  outset,  the  operation  of 
this  principle  in  the  history  of  the  original  Yarmouth  and  of 
its  divided  parts,  the  present  Yarmouth  and  Dennis. 

The  whole  history  of  these  towns  was  indeed  prefigured 
in  the  ethnological  and  the  personal  character  of  the  prime- 
val settlers.  A  cursory  view  of  that  history  will  show  two 
things  most  strikingly :  it  will  show  in  what  a  remarkable 
manner  these  settlers  and  their  descendants  have  illustrated 
the  distinguishing  traits  of  all  those  branches  of  the  Aryan 
race  that  make  up  the  composite  people  of  Great  Britain  ; 
it  will  show  also  how  peculiarly,  how  typically,  they  have  at 
the  same  time  represented  the  distinctive  spirit  of  the  lead- 
ing founders  of  the  Colony  of  Plymouth  and  have  exempli- 
fied that  spirit  in  their  public  and  private  life.  The  historian 
of  Yarmouth  and  Dennis,  in  his  able  and  valuable  work,  has 
given  a  descriptive  catalogue  of  the  dozen  or  more  early  set- 
tlers who,  through  their  descendants  have  continued  to  be 
represented  in  the  people  of  these  towns  and  have,  in  fact, 
determined  their  history.  In  that  catalogue  two,  at  least, 
Thomas  Howes  and  William  Nickerson,  came  from  the  county 
of  Norfolk,  and  one,  William  Hedge,  from  the  county  of 
Northampton,  counties  that  were,  at  the  time  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  conquest  of  England,  settled  by  the  Angles  and  later 
in  part  by  the  Danes,  who  have  both  been  ever  noted  for  en- 
terprise, courage,  independence  and  practical  sagacity,  and 
who  are  wont  to  take  to  the  sea  as  if  to  their  native  element ; 
two  in  that  catalogue,   John    Gorham    and  Richard  Sears, 


67 

whose  ancestry  lived  long  in  France  before  their  appearance 
in  England,  belonged  to  the  Norman  race,  which,  in  addition 
to  the  characteristics  of  the  Angles  and  Danes,  is  said  by 
Macauley,  to  have  brought  into  England  the  spirit  of 
chivalry  and  a  taste  for  literature ;  three  in  the  catalogue, 
Anthony  Thacher,  Andrew  Hallet,  and  James  Matthews? 
came  from  the  southerly  counties  of  England  which  were  set- 
tled by  the  Saxons,  who  are  described  by  Mackintosh,  in  his 
ethnological  survey  of  England,  as  remarkable  for  well-bal- 
anced minds  and  characters,  leading  to  orderly  lives  and  to 
judicious  action  in  public  and  private ;  one,  Edmund  Hawes, 
came  from  the  city  of  London,  which,  while  settled  at  first  by 
the  Saxons,  has  been  immemorially  the  great  reservoir  into 
which  all  England  has  poured  perpetually  its  young  men  of 
mercantile  aptitude ;  two,  John  Crow  and  John  Hall,  were 
from  Wales,  whose  population  belongs  to  that  Celtic  branch 
of  the  Aryan  race,  which  in  its  early  migration  across  the 
continent  of  Europe  conquered  and  absorbed  into  itself  the 
pre-historic  Turanian  inhabitants,  a  people  possessing  a  more 
emotional  and  imaginative  temperament,  which  the  later  Celts 
have  inherited,  and  which  sometimes  develops,  in  individu- 
als who  are  partly  of  Celtic  descent,  a  talent  for  invention,  a 
gift  of  wit  or  a  genius  for  poetry,  music  or  eloquence.  Of 
all  these  divisions  of  the  Aryan  race  a  versatile  adaptiveness 
to  new  circumstances  and  indomitable  energy  and  pluck  in 
meeting  new  exigencies  are,  perhaps,  the  most  striking  char- 
acteristics. These  various  traits  of  character  to  which  I  have 
referred,  separate  or  combined,  modified,  mingled  together  in 
manifold  ways,  will  be  found  to  reappear  continually  in  the 
history  of  these  towns. 

What  now,  let  me  ask,  what  was  it  that  brought  such 
men,  so  diverse  in  local  origin  and  in  many  peculiarities,  to 
this  place  for  settlement  ?  Like  most  of  the  colonists  of  New 
England  they  quitted  their  native  land  through  fidelity  to 
their  religious  convictions  in  order  to  escape  the  persecutions 
of  the  Stuart  Kings  and  the  English  hierarchy.  In  coming 
to  America,  "  They  sought  a  faith's  pure  shrine."     They  left 


68 

behind  the  homes  of  their  childhood,  the  graves  of  their  fore- 
fathers, the  society  of  kindred  and  friends,  the  comforts  and 
blessings  of  a  civilized  community,  and  they  braved  the  dan- 
gers and  hardships  of  pioneer  life  in  the  wilderness,  in  the 
midst  of  savage  neighbors,  for  the  sake  of 
"  Freedom  t0  "Worship  God." 
A  conscientious  sense  of  duty  towards  God  and  the  spirit  of 
freedom  were  the  controlling  motives  of  their  action.  With 
these  motives  were  united  some  hope  of  spreading  the  Gos- 
pel among  the  heathen  natives,  some  hope  of  enlarging  the 
dominions  of  the  British  Crown,  and  especially  some  hope  of 
helping  to  found  a  Christian  Commonwealth  in  this  New 
World.  But  why,  it  may  well  be  asked,  did  they  come  to  the 
territory  of  the  Colony  of  Plymouth  rather  than  to  the  great- 
er and  more  powerful  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  ?  There 
subsequent  conduct  and  history  clearly  show  that  their  course 
in  this  respect  was  determined  by  their  sympathy  with  the 
spirit  and  policy  of  the  founders  of  Plymouth  and  their  dis- 
approval of  the  policy  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 
Two  of  the  first  settlers  of  Yarmouth  had  lived  long  in  Hol- 
land and  must  have  known  the  practice  of  John  Robinson 
and  his  church  at  Leyden  in  holding  communion  freely  with 
Dutch,  French  and  Scotch  Protestants  and  with  Puritans  of 
the  church  of  England ;  they  must  also  have  known  of  those 
wonderful  farewell  words  of  Robinson  addressed  to  the  part 
of  his  congregation  then  embarking  for  America,  in  which  he 
charged  them  to  follow  him  no  farther  than  he  followed 
Christ,  and  if  God  should  reveal  anything  to  them  by  any 
other  instrument,  to  be  as  ready  to  receive  it  as  ever  they 
were  to  receive  any  truth  by  his  ministry,  assuring  them  of 
his  persuasion  that  the  Lord  had  more  truth  and  light  yet  to 
break  forth  out  of  his  holy  word.  A  majority  of  the  princi- 
pal settlers  of  Yarmouth  had  previously  lived  in  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  Massachusetts  Bay  and  had  seen  that  colony  banish- 
ing for  the  expression  of  religious  opinion  John  Wheelwright, 
William  Aspinwall,  Mrs.  Ann  Hutchinson  and  her  family 
and  adherents ;  they  had  seen  that  the  government  of  that 


69 

colony  was  a  theocratic  oligarchy,  in  which  church  members 
alone  had  the  right  of  suffrage  and  the  clergy  had  the  con- 
trolling power  and  whose  legal  code  and  judgments  followed 
the  laws  of  Moses  in  all  their  severity  ;  but  in  looking  to 
Plymouth  they  saw  that  no  man  had  been  punished  for  the 
expression  of  his  religious  opinions,  that  all  inhabitants  of 
"  good  conversation,"  being  masters  of  families,  were  allowed 
to  vote,  and  that  the  laws  were  based  upon  the  common  law 
of  New  England,  modified  by  the  precepts  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. The  acts  of  the  settlers  of  Yarmouth  at  a  subse- 
quent period  prove  that  their  choice  of  jurisdiction  was  de- 
cided by  this  marked  difference  in  the  original  spirit  of  the 
two  colonies.  More  than  eighteen  years  later,  after  death 
had  taken  away  all  the  great  original  founders  of  Plymouth, 
after  John  Robinson,  who  was  the  quickening  spirit  of  that 
Colony  though  he  never  came  to  it,  and  William  Brewster, 
William  Bradford,  Edward  Winslow  and  Miles  Standish  had 
all  died,  when  the  government  of  Plymouth,  under  the 
pressure  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  enacted  laws 
for  the  punishment  of  the  Quakers,  the  settlers  of  Yarmouth 
remained  faithful  to  their  principles.  No  Quaker  was  pun- 
ished or  arraigned  in  Yarmouth ;  and,  when  the  authorities 
of  the  town  under  the  requirements  of  law  laid  taxes  upon 
all  the  inhabitants  for  paying  the  minister's  salary  and  also 
for  enlarging  the  meeting-house,  by  vote  of  the  town  they 
laid  the  tax  large  enough  upon  the  other  inhabitants  to  ena- 
ble them  to  remit  the  tax  to  Quakers.  All  honor,  then,  to  the 
founders  of  Yarmouth,  who,  at  that  early  day,  practised 
those  great  principles  of  religious  toleration  which  have 
since  been  embodied  in  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts 
and  in  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Having  determined  for  such  reasons  to  settle  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  Plymouth,  it  was  these  great  tracts  of 
meadow  and  marsh-land  affording  hay  for  their  cattle,  and 
the  comparatively  large  area  of  planting  ground  cleared  up 
by  the  Indians  and  ready  for  use,  that  drew  them  to 
Mattakeeset. 


70 

In  the  spring  and  summer  of  the  year  1639  they  came 
hither,  without  their  families,  to  secure  the  assignment  of 
their  home-lots  and  other  lands,  to  build  houses  and  to  pre- 
pare the  place  for  permanent  residence,  living  meanwhile  in 
booths.  Before  the  summer  was  ended  their  hastily  con- 
structed houses  were  ready  for  occupation,  and  at  the  begin- 
ning of  autumn  they  brought  their  families,  and  then,  but 
not  before,  they  became  inhabitants  of  Yarmouth  and  the 
real  settlement  of  the  town  took  place.  Their  life  here  in 
those  early  years,  though  subject  to  many  hardships,  was,  on 
the  whole,  remarkably  fortunate  and  prosperous.  Finding 
on  all  sides  springs,  brooks  and  ponds  of  "  sweet  water," 
they  had  built  their  houses  near  them,  and  so,  blessed  with 
good  water  as  well  as  good  air,  they  had  health  and  long  life. 
The  raising  of  cattle  for  the  first  twenty  years  formed  their 
most  important,  practical  business,  and,  while  the  influx  of 
new  settlers  continued,  was  very  profitable.  Next  in  impor- 
tance was  the  raising  of  Indian  corn,  which  had  become  the 
currency  of  the  colony  and  which,  when  planted  with  ale- 
wives  or  other  fish  in  the  hill,  bore  abundant  crops.  The 
other  principal  products  of  their  lands  were  rye,  barley, 
beans,  peas  and  flax.  Orchards  soon  appeared  near  every 
house  and  some  of  the  pear  trees  set  out  by  them  are  flour- 
ishing to  this  day ;  new  lands  were  rapidly  cleared  up  for 
cultivation,  fences  built,  roads  and  lanes  opened,  their  houses 
enlarged  and  improved,  and  soon  the  wilderness  "  blossomed 
like  the  rose."  Governor  Bradford,  though  he  did  not  pos- 
sess much  of  "the  vision  and  faculty  divine,"  was  inspired 
to  write  shortly  before  his  death  a  descriptive  poem  upon 
the  condition  of  the  colony  as  it  was  a  few  years  previously. 
Some  passages  from  this  peculiar  poem  will  show  the  condi- 
tion of  Yarmouth : 

"All  sorts  of  grain,  which  our  own  land  doth  yield, 
Was  hither  brought  and  sown  in  every  field ; 
As  wheat  and  rye,  barley,  oats,  beans  and  pease. 
Here  all  thrive  and  they  profit  from  them  raise." 


71 

"  Cattle  of  every  kind  do  fill  the  land ; 

Many  now  are  killed  and  their  hides  tanned 

By  which  men  are  supplied  with  meat  and  shoes, 

Or  what  they  can,  though  much  by  wolves  they  lose. 

Here  store  of  cows,  which  milk  and  butter  yield, 

And  also  oxen,  for  to  till  the  field ; 

Of  which  great  profit  many  now  do  make 

If  they  have  a  fit  place  and  able  pains  do  take. 

Horses  here  likewise  now  do  multiply, 

They  prosper  well,  and  yet  their  price  is  high." 

"  A  cow  then  was  at  twenty  pounds  and  five 
Those  who  had  increase  could  not  choose  but  thrive ; 
And  a  cow  calf,  ten  or  twelve  pounds  would  give 
As  soon  as  weaned,  if  that  it  did  but  live." 

"  And  both  swine  and  corn  was  in  great  request— 
To  the  first  comers  this  was  a  harvest. 
But  that  which  did  'bove  all  the  rest  excel, 
God  in  his  word,  with  us  He  here  did  dwell ; 
Well  ordered  Churches  in  each  place  there  were, 
And  a  learn 'd  ministry  was  planted  here, 
All  marvell  'd  and  said  ' Lord  this  work  is  thine 
In  the  wilderness  to  make  such  lights  to  shine.' " 

"  Here  were  men  sincere,  and  upright  in  heart, 
Who  from  justice  and  right  would  not  depart ; 
Men's  causes  they  would  scan  and  well  debate, 
But  all  bribes  and  corruptions  they  did  hate." 

MS.  poem  found  among  the  papers  of  Gov.  Bradford, 
Mass.    Hist.  Col.  31.  p  77. 

To  their  agricultural  pursuits  the  first  settlers  immedi- 
ately added  another  large  source  of  profit  by  securing  the 
numerous  "  drift  whales "  that  in  those  days  were  cast  on 
shore  within  the  bounds  of  Yarmouth,  and  at  a  later  date 
they  originated  a  new  business,  which  for  a  hundred  years 
proved  to  be  of  the  greatest  value  to  these  towns,  and  to 
this  county  and  the  neighboring  counties.  This  was  the 
pursuit  of  whales  in  boats  and  lancing  them  while  still  free 
in  their  native  element.  This  whale  fishing  in  boats  their 
descendants  carried  on  until  whales  ceased  to  frequent  the 
waters  of  Cape  Cod  Bay,  and  then  in  small  vessels  they  pur- 
sued the  whale  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean  between  George's  bank 


72 

and  the  Capes  of  Virginia,  and  later  in  the  strait  of  Belle  Isle 
and  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  until  at  length  the  Revolutionary 
war  put  an  end  to  whale  fishery  for  the  inhabitants  of  Yar- 
mouth. 

But  the  founders  of  Yarmouth  were  not  absorbed  in 
mere  material  interests;  one  of  the  first  things  to  engage 
their  attention  was  the  formation  of  a  well-ordered  church 
and  the  settlement  of  a  devoted  pastor.  The  first  Church 
of  Yarmouth,  organized  at  once,  was  started  by  them  upon 
that  high  course  which  it  has  pursued  for  two  centuries  and 
and  a  half.  Supplied  with  a  succession  of  able,  learned  and 
godly  ministers,  breaking  the  bread  of  life  to  generation 
after  generation,  upholding  the  cause  of  education,  diffusing 
the  spirit  of  true  culture,  promoting  every  good  work  for  the 
improvement  and  welfare  of  the  community,  forming  out  of 
itself  new  churches  of  like  influence  in  the  remoter  parts  of 
the  original  parish,  the  inhabitants  of  these  towns  can  never 
be  sufficiently  grateful  to  their  ancestors  for  the  establish- 
ment and  maintenance  of  such  an  institution. 

The  first  meeting-house  erected  on  the  southerly  side  of 
the  old  cemetery,  a  short  distance  from  this  place,  was  a 
building  of  very  rude  construction.  The  pastor  of  the  First 
Church,  in  his  able  and  interesting  historical  sketch  of  the 
First  Church  and  its  ministers  and  meeting-houses,  has  de- 
scribed it  as  a  building  of  forty  feet  in  length  and  thirty  in 
width  with  thatched  roof;  unplastered,  unglazed,  unshingled, 
unpainted,  with  windows  of  oiled  paper.  What  a  contrast 
between  that  small,  rude  structure  and  this  spacious  and 
beautiful  temple  of  worship  in  which  we  are  now  assembled. 
But,  I  doubt  not,  our  ancestors  worshipped  as  devoutly  in 
that  building  as  they  would  have  done  in  this.  They  had  no 
organ,  no  musical  instruments,  no  choir,  but  those  of  the 
congregation  who  were  able  to  sing  three  or  four  of  the  sim- 
ple tunes  contained  in  Ainsworth's  version  of  the  Psalms, 
sang  the  same  tunes  in  regular  order  Sunday  after  Sunday, 
making  melody  in  their  hearts. 


73 

The  sermons  of  the  early  ministers,  of  Rev.  John  Miller, 
the  second  pastor,  of  Rev.  Thomas  Thornton,  the  third  pas- 
tor, were  always  able  and  always  lengthy,  the  hour-glass  be- 
ing turned  twice  at  least  during  every  sermon.  There  were 
some  in  the  congregations  who  dissented  from  the  minister's 
views  and  adopted  very  peculiar  methods  of  showing  their 
dissent. 

Peter  Worden  and  William  Lumpkin  were  fined  10s. 
each  for  causing  disturbance  in  the  Yarmouth  Meeting-house 
on  the  Lord's  day,  by  talking,  it  is  said,  in  a  low  voice  during 
service,  in  a  corner  of  the  meeting-house ;  Richard  Berry 
and  three  others  were  fined  5s.  each  "  for  smoking  tobacco 
at  the  end  of  the  Yarmouth  Meeting-house  on  the  Lord's  day 
in  the  time  of  exercise ; "  William  Chase  was  presented  "  for 
driving  a  pair  of  oxen  five  miles  on  the  Lord's  day  in  time 
of  exercise ; "  John  Gray  and  two  others  were  fined  thirty 
shillings  each  "  for  sailing  from  Yarmouth  to  Boston  on  the 
Lord's  day ;  "  Nicholas  Nickerson  was  punished  for  defaming 
the  minister,  and  William  Nickerson  was  called  to  account 
for  jeering  at  religion  and  disturbing  public  meetings.  And 
yet,  when,  subsequently,  William  Nickerson  removed  to 
Mannamoit,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Yarmouth,  and  there 
preached  to  those  who  wished  to  hear  him,  the  authorities 
never  interfered  with  his  preaching.  While,  therefore, 
breaches  of  the  public  peace  and  breaches  of  order  and  de- 
corum, within  the  sanctuary  and  without,  were  most  rigidly 
repressed,  the  worship  of  God  and  the  expression  of  religious 
opinion  were  left  free.  The  founders  of  Yarmouth  had 
solved  that  problem  of  ages  —  the  reconciliation  of  religious 
freedom  with  civil  order,  the  harmonious  union  of  individual 
liberty  and  public  law.  Their  administration  of  civil  affairs 
in  other  respects  was  marked  by  singular  wisdom  and  jus- 
tice. The  proceeds  of  the  fisheries  at  Cape  Cod  were  appro- 
priated by  the  General  Court  of  the  Colony  to  the  support 
of  education,  and  the  people  of  Yarmouth  soon  established 
for  themselves  that  system  of  common  schools  which  after- 
wards became  one  of  the  great  distinctions  of  New  England. 


74 

Their  treatment  of  the  Aborigines  living  within  the 
limits  of  the  town  was  so  just  and  kind  that  the  confidence 
and  friendship  of  these  tribes  were  forever  secured.  Every 
foot  of  land  was  fairly  bought  of  them  and  fully  paid  for, 
every  greivance  promptly  redressed  and  the  principles  of  the 
Gospel  were  preached  to  them  and  practised  towards  them. 
Whatever  Indian  wars  might  elsewhere  arise, —  during  King 
Philip's  war  and  all  other  troubles  and  disturbances, —  the 
native  tribes  throughout  this  county  remained  uniformly  pa- 
cific and  faithful.  What  volumes  does  this  speak  for  the 
justice  and  Christian  conduct  of  those  who  then  inhabited 
this  town  and  this  county ! 

The  first  settlers  of  Yarmouth,  like  the  first  colonists  of 
Plymouth,  had  a  strong  disinclination  to  public  office  which 
they  regarded,  not  as  an  honor,  but  as  a  trust  and  grave  re- 
sponsibility to  be  accepted  only  from  a  sense  of  duty  or  from 
fear  of  the  penalties  imposed  by  law  for  refusal.  If  a  com- 
petent man  could  be  found  willing  to  undertake  such  respon- 
sibility, they  were  sure  to  re-elect  him  and  keep  him  in  office 
so  long  as  he  would  consent  to  it,  and  thev  had  no  fear  of 
finding  any  irregularities  in  his  official  accounts.  None  such 
were  ever  known  in  the  Colony  of  Plymouth. 

Our  New  England  town  is  a  peculiar  organism ;  it  is  a 
body  politic,  a  distinct  unit  having  functions  within  itself 
towards  its  own  members  in  respect  to  public  health,  the 
public  peace,  the  means  of  inter-communication,  the  care  of 
education,  and,  in  former  times,  the  support  of  public  wor- 
ship, but  it  is  at  the  same  time  an  organic  part  of  a  larger 
political  entity  to  which  it  has  relations  and  duties.  Yar- 
mouth had  such  relations  for  fifty-three  years  to  the  Colony 
of  Plymouth  and  to  the  crown  of  England,  for  eighty-four 
years  to  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  now  for 
more  than  one  hundred  years  to  the  Commonwealth  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  the  American  Union.  The  people  of  Yar- 
mouth regarded  and  spoke  of  the  Colony  of  Plymouth  as 
"the  country"  and,  in  the  performance  of  their  duty 
towards    that    country,    exhibited   the   highest   patriotism. 


75 

They  contributed  their  full  share  to  meet  its  financial  bur- 
dens, they  took  their  full  part  in  the  counsels  and  adminis- 
tration of  its  government,  and  in  the  hour  of  danger  the}r 
sent  forth  their  soldiers  at  a  moment's  warning  to  fight  in  its 
service.  Within  three  years  after  the  first  settlement,  in  the 
year  1642  and  again  in  the  year  1645,  upon  notice  from  the 
Colonial  Authorities,  the  men  of  Yarmouth  marched  forth 
at  once  into  the  country  of  the  Narragansetts  in  their  earli- 
est military  expeditions ;  and  when  in  the  year  1675  King 
Philip's  war  arose,  although  Yarmouth  was  far  from  the 
scene  of  hostilities  and  far  from  any  danger  of  attack,  it  sent 
forth  under  the  command  of  Captain  John  Gorham,  Cap- 
tain Thomas  Howes,  Captain  Michael  Pierce  and  Ensign 
John  Thacher,  respectively,  six  successive  expeditions 
for  the  defence  of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England. 
The  second  of  these  expeditions  was  engaged  in  the  great 
Swamp  Fight  which  broke  the  power  of  King  Philip's  allies, 
and  the  fourth  expedition  was  in  the  bloody  fight  at  Reho- 
both,  in  which  almost  every  man  was  slain.  The  peaceful 
citizens  had  been  unused  to  camps  and  untrained  in  arms, 
but,  like  Cromwell's  men,  they  went  forth  to  battle  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  his  might.  Our  an- 
cestors ever  felt  that  they  were  co-operating  in  the  work 
and  plan  of  Providence ;  they  belived  that  they  were  build- 
ing on  this  western  continent  a  truer  home  for  posterity  in 
all  after  ages ;  they  believed  that  they  were  helping  to  found 
a  better  commonwealth  than  the  world  had  known  ;  amid  its 
hardships  and  discomforts  there  was  in  their  life  something 
of  poetry,  much  of  heroism ;  in  all  their  work  they  were 
sustained  by  a  lofty  consciousness,  by  high  hopes,  by  noble 
ideals.  In  looking  back  at  their  work  from  this  distance  of 
time,  who  can  fail  to  admire  these  men?  What  striking 
qualities  they  displayed !  What  energy,  industry  and  fore- 
cast in  their  labors  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  itself!  What 
enterprise,  courage  and  skill  in  the  development  and  prosecu- 
tion of  the  whale  fishery !  What  justice  and  Christian  char- 
ity in  the  treatment  of  their  savage  neighbors  I     What  care 


76 
for  the  intellectual  welfare  of  posterity  in  the  establishment 
of  schools !  What  regard  for  the  highest  interests  of  man 
in  organizing  such  a  church  and  providing  such  a  ministry  ! 
What  wisdom  in  combining  religious  liberty  with  civil  order ! 
What  patriotism  and  heroism  in  answering  the  calls  of  their 
country  in  the  hour  of  danger  to  the  sacrifice  of  life  !  They 
made  Yarmouth,  in  their  life-time,  a  typical  old  colony  town, 
and  so  handed  it  over  to  posterity. 

Receiving  such  an  inheritance,  how  have  their  succes- 
sors acquitted  themselves  in  the  trust  ?  How  have  they  per- 
formed their  part  on  the  stage  of  life  ? 

Looking  down  the  long  vista  of  the  generations  that 
have  followed,  we  shall  not  find  that  they  have  proved  un- 
faithful. The  patriotic  record  of  these  towns  is  surpassed  by 
none.  What  important  service  they  rendered,  especially  by 
their  whale-boat  fleets,  to  the  Province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  and  to  Great  Britain  in  King  William's  war,  in  Queen 
Anne's  war,  in  the  French  wars,  which  resulted  finally  in  the 
overthrow  of  the  power  of  France  in  America !  But  it  is  in 
the  Revolution  and  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  that  their 
brightest  record  appears.  Upon  the  first  news  of  the  battle 
of  Lexington,  the  military  companies  of  the  two  precincts 
of  Yarmouth,  one  hundred  and  twenty  strong,  started  forth, 
like  minute-men,  for  the  scene  of  action.  When  in  the  year 
1776  the  towns  were  requested  to  express  their  opinion, 
whether,  if  Congress  should  declare  the  Independence  of 
the  Colonies,  the  people  would  sustain  them  in  the  act,  the 
town  of  Yarmouth,  rising  in  its  sovereign  authority  with 
unparallelled  boldness,  voted,  unanimously,  "  That  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  town  of  Yarmouth  do  declare  a  state  of  inde- 
pendence of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  agreeably  to  a  late 
resolve  of  the  General  Court,  in  case  the  wisdom  of  Con- 
gress should  see  proper  to  do  it." 

The  town  of  Yarmouth  and  the  other  towns  in  this 
county  during  the  Revolutionary  war  absolutely  exhausted 
themselves  in  furnishing  men,  money,  provisions,   clothing 


77 

and  other  supplies  for  the  army  and  the  cause  of  indepen- 
dence. 

The  action  of  the  towns  of  Yarmouth  and  Dennis  in 
our  civil  war  it  is  unnecessary  to  relate.  The  resolutions 
passed  at  their  meetings  breathed  the  soul  of  patriotism ; 
every  demand  for  men  throughout  the  war  was  promptly 
filled,  and  much  more  than  filled ;  more  than  forty  thousand 
dollars  were  spent  in  bounties  to  volunteers  and  in  providing 
for  their  families  and  incident  expenses,  over  and  beyond 
what  was  advanced  to  the  government  and  repaid ;  and  the 
men  sent  forth  did  honor  to  their  towns.  No  greater  patriot- 
ism, or  valor,  or  heroism  was  exhibited  on  the  plain  of  Mar- 
athon, or  in  the  Bay  of  Salamis,  or  at  the  Pass  of  Thermop- 
ylae, than  was  displayed  by  men  of  Yarmouth  and  Dennis  in 
the  battles  of  the  Revolution  and  on  southern  fields  and 
waters  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion.  The  military  Captains 
of  Europe  have  expressed  great  surprise  at  the  facility  with 
which  the  peaceful  American  citizen  is  transformed  into  the 
bold  and  heroic  soldier;  but  the  explanation  of  this  phe- 
nomenon is  to  be  sought  in  the  inherited  blood  of  the  Amer- 
ican ;  it  must  be  traced  back  to  the  fights  of  the  Vikings,  to 
the  conflicts  of  Saxon  and  Briton,  of  Angle,  Norman  and 
Dane,  to  the  wars  of  the  Crusaders  and  the  wars  of  the 
Roses,  to  wars  with  Scotland,  with  France,  with  Indians, 
with  England  herself,  which  together  have  helped  to  evolve 
the  character  of  the  American  of  to-day.  When  the  bugle 
of  his  country  calls,  it  evokes  an  echo  in  his  breast. 

The  system  of  common  schools  founded  by  the  fathers 
has  been  enlarged  and  improved  beyond  their  utmost  con- 
ception and  was  never  better  than  to-day.  The  work  of  the 
schools,  too,  has  been  supplemented  and  extended  by  the 
several  libraries  that  have  come  into  existence  and  especially 
here  in  this  place,  by  the  large  and  beautiful  library  to  which 
so  many  citizens  and  natives  of  Yarmouth  have  contributed. 
The  church  which  was  organized  by  the  fathers,  has  steadily 
done  its  work  through  the  successive  generations  and  still 
flourishes  in  undecaying  vigor,  doing  a  fuller  and  better  work 


78 

than  ever.  Other  churches  of  the  same  and  of  different 
creeds  have  sprung  from  it,  supplying  the  wants  of  every 
section,  suiting  every  shade  of  belief  and  sentiment,  and, 
however  differing  in  some  respects,  all  inculcating  that  fear 
of  God  which  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  and  co-operating 
in  that  charity  which  is  greater  than  the  faith  that  can  re- 
move mountains. 

But  it  is  the  practical  pursuits  and  interests  of  the  peo- 
ple of  these  towns  that  have  experienced  the  greatest 
changes,  and  that  have  most  fully  tested  the  resources  of 
their  character.  After  the  opening  of  more  fertile  lands 
elsewhere  had  diminished  the  profits  of  their  agriculture, 
and  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  whale  to  remoter  waters  re- 
quired larger  vessels  than  their  harbors  would  admit  of,  the 
people  of  these  towns  on  both  shores  of  the  peninsula,  pre- 
viously to  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  immediately  after  it, 
took  up  successfully  the  business  of  cod  fishery,  the  business 
of  coasting  to  southern  ports  and  also  the  making  of  voy- 
ages in  small  vessels  to  the  West  Indies,  to  New  Orleans, 
and  to  the  ports  of  France  and  other  countries  of  Europe. 
During  the  Revolutionary  war  the  high  price  of  common  salt 
turned  the  attention  of  a  native  of  the  eastern  precinct  of 
the  town  to  the  question  of  the  practicability  of  producing 
salt  profitably  from  sea-water  through  solar  evaporation,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  last  century  he  had  succeeded  in  in- 
venting and  perfecting  a  set  of  contrivances  by  which  this 
end  was  accomplished.  The  invention  of  salt-works  gave  a 
business  of  great  value  and  profit  to  these  towns  and  to  this 
county  and  the  neighboring  counties  for  nearly  fifty  years, 
until  through  the  abolition  of  duties  on  foreign  salt  and  the 
development  of  new  sources  of  supply  within  our  own  land, 
the  business  at  length  ceased  to  be  any  longer  profitable. 
Meanwhile  the  growth  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  employment  of  large  American  ships  in  this 
business  between  the  years  1820  and  1861,  opened  a  new 
field  for  enterprise  and  character.  The  shipmasters  from 
these  towns  have  had  no  superiors.     They  found  here  a  con- 


79 

genial  element  and  came  forth  with  surpassing  lustre.  En- 
ergy, courage,  skill,  presence  of  mind,  coolness  of  judgment, 
commanding  authority  and  high  honor,  characterized  these 
men.  Transcendent  success  in  this  vocation  has  made  the 
names  of  Crowell,  Eldridge,  Hallett,  Howes,  Taylor,  famous 
for  masterly  seamanship  and  noble  manhood  as  widely  as  the 
ocean  rolls.  But  with  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  American 
ships  disappeared  from  our  foreign  commerce  and  the  great 
shipmasters  found  their  occupation  gone. 

Contemporaneously  with  the  engagement  of  shipmasters 
from  Yarmouth  and  Dennis  in  foreign  commerce,  a  part  of 
the  people  of  these  towns  engaged  in  the  mackerel  fishery, 
and  others,  again,  in  ship-building;  industries  that  flourished 
much  for  a  time,  but,  practically  came  to  an  end  also  with 
the  Civil  war.  The  coasting  trade,  which  began  before  the 
Revolutionary  war,  has  undergone  many  and  great  vicissi- 
tudes ;  the  introduction  and  extension  of  railroads  long  ago 
superseded  the  earlier  forms  of  the  business ;  but  the  sagaci- 
ty and  enterprise  of  citizens  of  these  towns  quickly  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  development  of  coal  mines  and  the  substitu- 
tion of  coal  for  wood  and  have  in  recent  times  built  up  a 
new  coasting  business  surpassing  all  that  has  preceded  it. 
Fifty  years  ago  a  native  of  Dennis  discovered  the  art  of 
cultivating  the  cranberry ;  and  this  discovery,  revealing  a 
better  use  for  the  many  swamps  and  marshes  throughout 
Cape  Cod,  has  introduced  a  new  industry  which  brings  to 
these  towns  a  greater  annual  income  than  any  previous 
branch  of  business.  In  looking  back  over  the  history  of 
these  changing  pursuits  we  shall  be  struck  with  the  recuper- 
ative power  so  constantly  displayed.  New  kinds  of  business 
have  quickly  arisen  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  that  had 
succumbed  to  fate.  What  inventiveness  and  sagacity,  what 
enterprise,  versatility  and  energy  have  been  shown  in  meet- 
ing the  exigencies  of  "  all-destroying  time  !  "  Where  such 
recuperative  power  is  shown,  there  is  never  occasion  to  abate 
hope  or  effort.  The  capacity,  that  has  been  able  to  answer 
the  demands  of  the  past,  will  not  be  found  inadequate  to  the 


80 

requirements  of  the  future.  When  the  foreign  commerce 
of  the  country  in  American  ships  shall  be  resumed,  the  sov- 
ereigns of  the  seas  will  step  forth  anew  from  the  shores.  If 
the  protection  of  home  industry  continue  to  be  the  national 
policy,  the  inventive  talent  here  existing  will  soon  discover 
the  sort  of  manufacture  suited  to  these  environments. 

The  history  of  these  towns  is  not  confined  wholly  within 
their  own  local  bounds.  They  have  sent  forth  colonists  in 
great  numbers  to  the  State  of  Maine,  to  Western  Massachu- 
setts, to  New  York,  to  every  state  and  city  in  the  union*  and 
indeed  to  every  part  of  the  habitable  globe,  who  have  every- 
where maintained  the  prestige  of  their  ancestral  home. 
They  have  contributed  their  due  proportional  number  to  the 
learned  professions ;  they  have  contributed  much  more  than 
their  proportion  to  the  active  callings  of  the  metropolis  of 
the  Commonwealth,  and  especially  to  the  mercantile  calling, 
whose  roll  of  successful  and  eminent  merchants  bears  the 
names  of  Thacher,  Hallett,  Sears,  Hawes,  Baker  and  many 
others  that  have  belonged  to  natives  of  these  towns.  The 
complaint  is  somtimes  heard  that  these  towns  have  not  made 
any  like  contributions  to  the  ranks  of  science,  literature  and 
art.  If  there  be  any  ground  for  this  complaint,  it  is  for  the 
future  to  remedy.  The  President  of  Harvard  University  has 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  County  of  Barnstable 
sends  to  college  a  less  proportional  number  of  students  than 
do  the  other  counties  of  the  State,  and  he  ascribes  this  fact 
to  the  want  of  an  endowed  classical  school  within  the  coun- 
ty. His  explanation  is  undoubtedly  correct,  and  there  is  at 
this  moment  no  more  important  want  in  this  county  than  of 
the  establishment  of  an  endowed  academy  having  a  classical 
department  supplied  with  competent  teachers,  with  libraries 
and  with  engravings,  and  casts  of  the  best  works  of  ancient 
and  modern  art,  and  having  also  an  English  department  pro- 
vided with  scientific  apparatus  to  fit  for  the  profession  of 
teaching  and  for  all  the  higher  active  callings  in  the  commu- 
nity. Where  so  much  native  talent  gleams  out  on  every 
side,  there  is  urgent  call  for  its  due  development.     If  such 


81 

an  Academy  were  established  in  one  of  these  towns  so  cen- 
tral for  the  whole  county,  what  a  mighty  power  for  good 
would  arise!  What  talents  would  be  evoked  into  new  ac- 
tivity !  What  genius  might  be  awakened !  What  improve- 
ments in  practical  pursuits  and  the  enterprises  of  business 
originated !  What  elevation  and  refinement  of  social  life 
promoted ! 

These  towns  are  now  organic  parts  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts,  "  The  heir  of  all  the  ages  in  the 
foremost  files  of  time."  In  the  front  lines  of  Massachusetts' 
civilization  a  higher  and  broader  cultures,  a  more  complete 
and  full-orbed  life  is  gradually  rising.  New  influences  are  at 
work  in  our  midst.  The  education  now  given  in  Harvard 
College  has  a  comprehensiveness  never  known  before  in  our 
land ;  the  great  musical  compositions  of  Beethoven,  Mozart, 
Mendelssohn,  Wagner,  are  heard  in  Boston  to-day  in  no  less 
perfection  than  in  Vienna  or  London ;  the  great  works  of 
European  art  are  beginning  slowly  to  migrate  to  our  shores 
and  to  exert  their  influence  on  the  young  as  well  as  the  old. 
In  the  philosophy  of  Plato,  the  ends  of  our  rational  intelli- 
gence are  defined  to  be  the  Good,  the  Beautiful  and  the 
True.  Our  ancestors  devoted  their  attention  mainly  to  the 
good,  —  the  good  in  material  things,  in  civil  affairs,  in  spirit- 
ual concerns  and  to  the  true  as  subsidiary  to  the  good ;  but 
the  beautiful  entered  very  little  into  their  consciousness. 
To-day  the  beautiful  is  taking  its  place  by  the  side  of  the 
good  and  the  true  —  awakening  new  emotions,  aspirations 
and  ideals,  and  helping  to  elevate,  expand  and  round  our 
life  more  nearly  into  that  integral  and  symmetrical  complete- 
ness which  the  nature  of  man  and  the  Author  of  his  nature 
prescribe.  This  completer  life  belongs  here  as  well  as  in 
Boston  or  Cambridge.  Our  ancestors,  in  their  day,  made 
Yarmouth  a  typical  town  of  the  Old  Colony;  it  is  for  their 
descendants  to  make  Yarmouth  and  Dennis  typical  towns  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  in  the  twentieth  century. 


82 

The  oration  occupied  about  forty-five  minutes  in  its  de- 
livery and  was  listened  to  with  close  attention  throughout, 
by  an  audience  that  filled  every  available  spot  within  the 
walls  of  the  church.  Immediately  following,  an  original 
hymn  written  for  the  occasion,  by  Rev.  John  W.  Dodge,  was 
sung  to  the  tune  of  Hamburg  : 

ORIGINAL  HYMN. 


The  sea  is  Thine  and  Thine  the  strand, 
Thy  dome  o'erarches  sea  and  land, 
And  on  the  billowy  pavement's  sheen, 
Thy  footsteps,  mighty  God,  are  seen. 

The  rolling  waves  and  sounding  shore 
Through  forest  aisles  Thy  praises  bore, 
E'er  human  voices  broke  the  charm, 
And  uttered  first  their  plaintive  psalm. 

The  Hand  that  led  the  Pilgrims  o'er, 
And  showed  the  Rock  on  yonder  shore, 
Concealed  in  storm  our  harbor's  face, 
And  fixed  for  us  a  humbler  place. 

And  yet  to  us  to  rear  was  given, 
One  pillar  of  the  mystic  seven 
Of  Wisdom's  house ;  a  nation  grand, 
Through  coming  centuries  to  stand. 

Our  fathers  toiled  through  all  the  years  ; 
They  ploughed  in  faith,  they  sowed  in  tears, 
Thy  love  sustained  their  fainting  strength, 
And  gladdening  harvests  came  at  length. 

And  here  to-day  the  children  come 
To  find  a  cordial  welcome  home; 
And  round  ancestral  altars  raise 
Their  grateful  hymns  of  love  and  praise. 

Long  live  the  town — our  fathers'  pride, 
Where  beauty,  health  and  peace  abide  ; 
May  generations  yet  to  be, 
Thy  bright  millennial  glories  see. 

Thejexercises  at  the  church  closed  at  about  half-past 
one,  and  the  assembly  was  dismissed  for  dinner. 


83 

As  many  were  unable  to  gain  admission  to  the  church  to 
enjoy  the  literary  exercises,  a  varied  programme  of  sports  was 
arranged  by  the  committee,  and  the  grounds  provided  for  the 
purpose  in  the  vicinity  were  thronged  nearly  all  day  by  eager 
participants  in  the  games.  At  9  A.  M.,  was  a  shooting 
match,  with  four  prizes.  At  10  A.  M.,  Base  Ball  —  the  North 
Side  married  men  versus  the  South  Side  married  men. — 
At  3  p.  M.,  the  North  Side  club  versus  the  South  Side  club. 
The  prize  medals  were  engraved,  "  Yarmouth,  1639  — 
1889."  For  the  young  people  there  were  a  sack  race,  pota- 
to race,  three-legged  race,  obstacle  race,  etc.  The  honors 
of  base-ball  were  about  equally  distributed  between  the  two 
sides  of  the  town.  In  the  forenoon  the  Nort&Side  married 
men  beat  the  South  Side  married  men  by  a  score  of  21  to  5. 
In  the  afternoon  the  South  Side  beat  the  North  Side  club  13 
to  5. 

An  Antiquarian  Exhibition  in  the  vestry  of  the  Congre- 
gational church  consisted  of  rare  and  curious  articles  — 
household  utensils,  antiquated  implements  of  various  sorts, 
and  relics  of  by-gone  times,  around  which  was  gathered  an 
interested  throng,  continually  changing  through  the  day. 

The  tent  for  dinner  was  pitched  on  an  historic  spot, 
just  across  the  street  to  the  north  of  the  School  House,  on  a 
spot  of  land  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  Rev.  John  Mil- 
ler, the  second  pastor  of  the  church.  It  was  one  hundred 
and  ten  feet  long  by  sixty-three  feet  wide,  with  a  capacity 
for  accommodating  nearly  a  thousand  guests  at  the  tables.  It 
was  gaily  decorated  with  flags  and  streamers,  and  being  visi- 
ble from  many  points,  from  its  central  situation,  was  an  ob- 
ject of  attraction  to  all.  Over  the  entrance  was  the  motto,  — 

"We  iA>ill  our  celebration  Keep." 

—  King  Henry  IV. 
The  interier  was  brilliantly  trimmed  with  flags,  and  set 
off  with  mottoes  in  large  gold  letters  on  a  black  velvet  back 


84 

ground.    The  table  for  invited  guests  was  on  a  raised  plat- 
form on  the  North  Side,  over  which  was  the  motto,  — 

"Feast  l\ere  ensile." 

—  Pericles. 
The  dinner  was  served  by  J.  Dooling,  of  Boston,  cater- 
er, and  the  appointments  were  superb  in  every  respect.  The 
tables  were  beautifully  decorated  with  cut  flowers  and  pot- 
ted plants,  and  nothing  was  wanted  to  secure  a  complete  suc- 
cess. When  the  guests  were  seated,  nearly  every  place  was 
filled,  the  number  by  count  being  nine  hundred  and  fifty. 
The  Band  was  in  attendance  and  played  choice  selections  at 
intervals  during  the  afternoon.     The  following  is  the 

%  MENU. 


Fish. 


Boiled  Salmon. 
Sliced  Tomatoes. 


Green  Peas. 


Potato  Croquettes. 

Boiled. 
Chicken.     Ham.     Tongue.     Potatoes. 
Currant  Jelly. 

Roast. 

Sirloin  Beef.     Dish  Gravy.     Turkey. 

Cranberry  Sauce. 

Mashed  Potatoes.  String  Beans. 

Pickles.  Olives. 

Entree. 

Lobster  Salad. 

Dessert. 

Frozen  Pudding. 

Vanilla.        Strawberry.        Chocolate. 

Macaroon.  Pineapple. 

Ice  Cream. 


85 

Orange  Sherbet.  Raspberry  Sherbet. 

Frosted  Currant  Almond 

Citron  Cake.  Cocoanuts. 

Fancy  Cakes.     Macaroons. 

Fruit. 

Bananas.  Oranges.  Pineapples. 

Plums.      Walnuts.      Raisins. 

French  Coffee. 

The  company  was  called  to  order  by  Hon.  Henry  C. 
Thaeher,  president  of  the  day,  who  called  upon  Rev.  Jeremi- 
ah Taylor,  of  Boston,  to  invoke  the  divine  blessing.  After 
an  hour  spent  in  discussing  the  rich  viands,  the  president 
called  the  assembly  to  order  and  welcomed  them  in  the  fol- 
lowing brief  remarks : 

PRESIDENT  THACHER'S  ADDRESS. 

Daughters  and  Sons  of  Old  Yarmouth  :  I  bid  you  wel- 
come. I  cordially  welcome  all  who  have  assembled  here  to 
celebrate  this  day.  I  welcome  you  to  this  pleasant  old  town ; 
I  welcome  you  to  its  shady  streets,  to  its  gentle  hills,  from 
whose  tops  the  eye  looks  out  over  the  blue  waters  of  the  bay 
to  that  point  which  marks  the  southern  entrance  to  the  har- 
bor of  Plymouth,  to  the  hills  of  ProvincetOwn,  which  shelter- 
ed the  harbors  on  whose  waters  the  Mayflower  rode,  when 
in  her  cabin  was  enacted  that  ever  memorable  instrument, 
that  first  written  constitution  ever  adopted  by  man  for  self- 
government,  that  instrument  from  which  are  formed  all  the 
constitutions  of  our  states  and  the  constitution  of  the  great 
and  powerful  nation,  the  United  States  of  America.  And 
here  by  the  shore  of  the  sea,  among  our  homes,  I  welcome 
you  to  all  the  festivities  of  the  day. 

The  president  then  introduced  his  honor  Lieutenant 
Governor  Brackett,  who  spoke  as  follows : 

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR   BRACKETT'S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  —  The  Common- 
wealth for  which  you  invite  me  to  respond,  seems  youthful 
when  compared  with  Yarmouth. 

Its  constitution  was  adopted  more  than  one  hundred 
and  forty  years  after  the  act  of  incorporation  which  we  com- 


86 

memorate.  It  is,  therefore,  fit  that  on  this  occasion  it  should 
pay  to  the  ancient  town  the  homage  ever  due  from  youth  to 
age.  It  delegates  to  me  the  duty  of  bringing  to  Yarmouth 
on  its  natal  day,  its  salutations. 

The  year  1639  was  an  eventful  one  in  the  history  of  the 
Cape.  Upon  a  single  day  in  that  year,  as  you  all  know,  three 
of  its  towns,  Yarmouth,  Sandwich  and  Barnstable,  were  ush- 
ered into  being.  There  was  one  fact  probably  not  contem- 
plated by  the  people  of  that  generation,  and  that  was,  that 
because  of  their  incorporation  on  the  same  day,  the  two  hun- 
dred and  fiftieth  anniversary  and  other  like  anniversaries, 
would  naturally  fall  upon  the  same  day,  thus  giving  to  those 
who  are  invited  and  might  desire  to  attend  both  celebrations, 
some  little  degree  of  embarrassment.  Mark  Twain,  speaking 
once  at  a  banquet  upon  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  com- 
menting upon  the  fact  that  he  had  been  obliged  to  decline 
invitations  to  like  celebrations  on  the  same  day,  remarked 
that  his  only  complaint  against  the  Pilgrims  was,  that  they 
all  landed  upon  the  same  day,  because,  he  said,  if  they  had 
not  done  this,  then  these  commemorative  dinners  might  have 
taken  place  on  different  days,  and  he  been  able  to  take  them 
all  in. 

I  understand  that  the  celebration  at  Barnstable  has  been 
postponed.  I  trust  that  we  all  shall  be  invited  to  attend  the 
three  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary,  and  all  accept,  un- 
less prevented  by  previous   engagements  elsewhere. 

Yarmouth  to-day  enters  into  a  new  chapter.  You,  its 
sons  and  daughters,  glorifying  in  its  past,  and  hopeful  for  its 
future,  have  come  together  in  honor  of  the  event.  You 
have  come  together  to  show  by  your  presence,  your  regard 
for  the  town  and  your  reverence  for  its  founders.  In  the 
spirit  of  that  injunction  which  commands  us  to  honor  our 
fathers  and  mothers,  we  also  honor  the  fathers  and  mothers 
of  the  town  in  which  we  were  born  or  live.  They  are  wor- 
thy of  unstinted  praise,  the  men  who  founded  these  old 
towns,  for  the  heroism  they  displayed,  for  the  hardships  they 
endured  in  their  pioneer  life.  By  contemplating  their  con- 
dition, the  condition  in  which  they  were  placed,  and  in  con- 
trasting it  with  our  own,  we  derive  every  cause  for  satisfac- 
tion and  contentment  for  the  lot  which  has  befallen  us.  To 
be  permitted  to  take  part  in  its  mighty  work,  to  be  borne 
forward  on  its  surging  tide,  is  a  boon  the  like  of  which  has 
not  been  enjoyed  by  other  generations.  Who  can  measure 
the  extent  of  our  obligations  to  the  hardy  pioneers  who  laid 


87 

the  foundations  of  the  towns,  and  gave  to  mankind  a  practi- 
cal exemplification  of  that  system  of  popular  government 
which  was  afterward  adopted  by  the  nation,  and  under  which 
it  has  gone  on  in  triumph  for  more  than  a  century  ?  It  was 
in  the  town  meeting  of  the  colonial  period  that  American 
liberty  was  nurtured  and  the  people  learned  to  appreciate 
their  rights.  It  was  there  that  the  idea  of  an  independent 
Nation  originated  and  grew,  until  at  length  it  became  that 
living  and  glorious  reality  which  it  at  length  achieved.  It 
is  proper,  and  becoming,  and  just,  that  the  people  to-day 
should  embrace  every  occasion  to  acknowledge  that  indebted- 
ness, and  pay  our  grateful  tributes  to  the  heroic  men  who 
laid  the  foundations  of  this  old  town  which  we  honor.  I  am 
reminded  somewhat  vividly  of  my  first  visit  to  the  town.  It 
was  several  years  ago,  more  than  I  now  care  to  confess.  I 
came  to  deliver  an  address  in  one  of  your  churches,  in  be- 
half of  the  New  England  Freedmen's  Aid  society.  It  was 
my  first  experience  in  that  character,  and  I  came  with  a  great 
many  misgivings.  I  noticed  that  I  was  received  with  a  def- 
erence unexpected,  and  soon  ascertained  the  cause.  It  hap- 
pened that  on  that  same  evening,  (Sunday,)  a  clerical  gen- 
tiemen  was  to  speak  in  Yarmouth.  Your  paper  announced 
the  meeting,  but  for  some  reason  it  got  "those  two  children 
mixed,''  and  on  taking  up  the  paper,  I  was  somewhat  astound- 
ed and  shocked  to  see  my  full  name  printed  in  large  letters, 
with  the  title  of  Rev.  prefixed.  It  was  a  dignity  to  which  I 
had  no  claim,  and  which  I  was  poorly  prepared  to  sustain. 
I  besought  my  friend,  Mr.  Swift,  to  supply  me  with  all  his 
spare  copies  of  the  paper,  and  he  donated  them  to  me,  kindly 
mailed  to  my  classmates  scattered  around  the  country,  and 
which  filled  their  minds  with  wonderment,  to  think  that  I 
had  so  suddenly  come  out  with  the  title  of  a  clergyman. 

It  is  customary  on  occasions  of  this  kind,  for  the  Com- 
monwealth to  be  represented  by  some  one  of  its  officials.  It 
is  appropriate  that  this  should  be.  The  Commonwealth  is 
interested  in  the  town's  growth  and  prosperity,  and  in  the 
character  of  all  its  towns,  for  upon  them  does  not  its  progress 
and  welfare  depend  ?  Its  fortune  in  which  all  good  citizens 
are  concerned,  is  to  be  just  what  its  people  make  it.  The 
history  of  Yarmouth  thus  far  in  its  career  has  been  honora- 
ble and  creditable.  Its  past  is  secure.  May  the  future  be 
worthy  of  its  past,  so  that  when  the  three  hundredth  anni- 
versary shall  occur,  the  people  whose  privilege  it  shall  be  to 
take  part  in  it,  may  review  the  period  intervening  with  the 


88 

same  feelings  of  satisfaction  and  pride  which  you  now  expe- 
rience when  you  look  back  to  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  by- 
gone years. 

The  president  then  said :  "  It  is  seldom  that  an  election 
occurs  in  which  the  majority  and  minority  candidates  are 
alike  satisfied  with  the  result.  Such  an  election  took  place 
last  autumn,  and  I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to 
you,  the  majority  candidate,  George  A.  Marden,  Treasurer 
and  Receiver-General  of  this  Commonwealth." 

MR.   MARDEN'S  ADDRESS. 

His  Honor,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  I,  were  born 
in  New  Hampshire.  About  forty  years  ago  this  summer,  in 
the  town  adjoining  where  I  was  born,  there  were  men  mow- 
ing upon  a  large  meadow.  One  of  them  was  a  good  old  Bap- 
tist deacon,  and  he  had  his  hired  man  in  the  swath  just  ahead, 
(he  always  had  him  in  the  swathe  just  ahead  of  him,)  and 
the  hired  man  came  to  what  seemed  to  him  a  suspicious  look- 
ing place  in  the  grass,  and  so  he  went  and  set  in  on  the  other 
side.  The  deacon  was  a  man  who  was  always  quoting  script- 
ure, and  he  said  to  the  hired  man,  "  the  wicked  flee  when  no 
man  pursueth,  but  the  righteous  is  bold  as  a  lion."  In  a  few 
minutes  the  deacon  was  making  2.  40  time  across  the  mead- 
ow with  a  hundred  bees  after  him.  The  hired  man  shouted 
out  to  the  deacon,  "  the  prudent  man  foreseeth  the  danger 
and  avoideth  it,  but  the  simple  pass  on  and  are  punished." 
I  had  an  invitation  to  come  to  this  celebration  some  months 
ago.  If  I  had  supposed  that  I  was  to  be  brought  down  here 
as  a  representative  of  the  State  Government,  as  one  of  the 
fictions  which  precede  our  State  elections ;  if  I  was  supposed 
to  follow  His  Honor,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  prudent 
man  would  have  foreseen  the  evil  and  hidden  himself,  but  he 
passed  on,  and  you  are  being  punished. 

What  shall  I  say  on  an  occasion  like  this  ?  Not  sup- 
posing the  brunt  of  the  speech-making  was  to  come  so  near 
to  me,  I  failed  to  study  up  the  Legislative  Manual 
beforehand.  At  a  grocers'  picnic,  a  few  days  ago,  I  was 
called  upon  to  represent  the  Common  wealth  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  did  it  in  my  feeble  way.  When  we  got  through 
and  were  waiting  for  the  train,  a  man  came  up  and  intro- 
duced himself  to  me  ;  he  was  a  grocer  from  New  York.  He 
said,  "  Very  glad  to  meet  you,  sir ;  you  know  we  don't  want 
anything  real  good  at  such  a  time  as  this."  And  I  suppose 
it  is  fair  to  presume  that  you  don't  want  anything  real  good 


89 

at  such  a  time  as  this,  in  the  same  sense  the  grocer  gave  it. 
The  celebration  commands  the  attention  of  every  person 
witnessing  it.  Here  the  men  and  women  of  this  ancient 
town,  (so  ancient  that  even  Governor  Brackett  can't  remem- 
ber the  beginning  of  it ;  a  town  which  has  only  made  one 
mistake,  and  that  is  giving  him  his  degree  as  a  minister  of 
the  gospel,)  represent  the  best  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. God  bless  her !  What  is  there  in  all  the  cata- 
logue of  sights,  better  than  a  gathering  of  human  beings,  and 
in  the  gathering,  what  can  be  better  than  the  men  and  wo- 
men who  comprise  what  the  orator  says  was  the  typical  town 
of  Massachusetts  ?  Yesterday  I  came  down  from  the  little 
hill  town  where  the  deacon  was  mowing,  and  twenty  of  us 
had  gathered  there  to  talk  over  old  times.  It  is  a  New  Eng- 
land town,  perhaps  a  typical  New  Hampshire  town,  but  not 
like  this.  I  don't  know  but  the  soil  might  be  a  little  better 
than  that  on  which  this  tent  stands ;  but  for  growth  of  men 
and  women,  it  cannot  surpass  it. 

The  orator  told  us  to-day  that  there  is  a  recuperative 
energy  in  this  place.  The  whaling  dies  out,  something 
else  springs  up,  and  in  these  back  hills  is  found  a  mine  which 
beats  whaling  out  of  sight.  You  can't  kill  Cape  Cod,  and  it 
may  be  that  henceforth  we  are  to  see  a  growth  in  enterprise 
and  population  which  shall  astonish  us.  Last  Sunday  I 
would  have  been  willing  to  swear  that  there  was  no  place  so 
pleasant  as  the  little  place  where  I  was  born  ;  to-day  I  should 
make  the  affidavit  with  reluctance,  because  the  affidavits  be- 
fore me  so  much  outnumber  those  in  the  place  where  I  was  born. 
I  sympathize  with  Theodore  Parker's  remark,  who  being  told 
that  the  end  of  the  world  was  come,  said,  "  It  doesn't  concern 
me  ;  I  live  in  Boston."  And  I  thought,  too,  of  that  story  about 
the  Americans  who  got  together  and  had  a  celebration  of  the 
anniversary  of  their  independence,  who  after  eating  and 
drinking,  began  to  get  a  little  excited  over  the  patriotism  of 
their  country,  and  said,  uHere  is  to  the  United  States 
of  America,"  and  they  cheered  as  only  men  will  cheer  who 
are  enthusiastic,  and  another  said,  "I  will  go  you  one  better. 
'Here  is  to  the  United  States  of  America,  bounded  on  the 
North  by  the  North  Pole,  on  the  East  by  the  rising  sun,  on 
the  South  by  the  South  Pole,  on  the  West  by  the  setting 
sun,  ' "  and  then  they  cheered  more.  But  that  was  not  sat- 
isfactory, and  the  most  enthusiastic  of  all  said,  "I  will  give 
you  a  toast  worth  something.  ■  Here  is  to  the  United  States, 
bounded  on  the  North  by  the    Aurora  Borealis,  on  the  East 


90 

by  the  Procession  of  the  Equinoxes,  on  the  South  by  the  infer- 
nal regions,  on  the  West  by  the  Day  of  judgment.'  "  That  man 
might  have  been  born  in  Barnstable  or  Yarmouth  or  Dennis 
or  Sandwich  for  all  I  know,  but  there  would  have  been  no 
limit  to  the  bounds  of  his  patriotism  and  the  affection  for 
his  home.  I  am  reminded  that  Mr.  Swift,  when  he  asked  me 
to  speak,  said  five  minutes  and  no  more.  I  have  outrun 
that.  I  want  to  say,  however,  in  answer  to  what  was  said  in 
the  introduction,  that  Yarmouth  is  my  benefactor  for  hav- 
ing allowed  its  foremost  citizen  to  accept  a  nomination  from 
the  opposing  party  last  year.  We  agreed  exactly,  he  that 
he  didn't  want  to  be  elected,  and  I  that  I  didn't  want  him  to 
be  elected.  And  we  made  this  agreement :  If  he  was  elect- 
ed I  was  to  go  upon  his  bond,  and  if  I  was  elected  he  should 
go  upon  mine.  There  was  this  thing  about  it.  His  name  on 
a  bond  would  be  worth  a  large  part  of  Cape  Cod ;  my  name 
on  his  would  hardly  represent  one  of  its  sands.  I  had  the 
better  of  him  there;  he  has  the  better  of  me  this  afternoon. 

The  president  then  said :  "  I  am  glad  to  welcome  here  a 
delegation  of  the  Cape  Cod  Association  of  Boston,  worthy 
sons  of  those  fathers,  who  left  the  Cape  to  seek  their  fortunes 
in  Boston.  I  now  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Alpheus  H.  Hardy, 
of  Boston,  a  member  of  that  association." 

MR.   HARDY'S   ADDRESS. 

When  I  was  over  persuaded  by  my  good  friend,  Mr. 
Joshua  M.  Sears,  the  President  of  the  Cape  Cod  Association, 
to  say  a  few  words  this  afternoon  in  response  to  your  kind 
reference  to  it,  I  had  no  doubt  of  my  being  able  to  glean 
from  the  records  of  the  society  something  of  interest  to  you  ; 
but  found  to  my  dismay  when  I  sought  access  to  them 
that  the  Secretary  was  in  Europe.  I  then  turned  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  town  of  Yarmouth,  but  your  orator  has  exhaust- 
ed all  that  and  I  find  myself  somewhat  in  the  position  of  the 
dog  placed  in  the  baggage  car  by  the  station  agent,  who 
answered  the  inquiry  of  the  baggage  master  as  to  his  desti- 
nation by  saying  "I  don't  know  where  he's  going,  he  don't 
know,  and  he's  chawed  up  his  tag." 

I  have  found,  however,  a  copy  of  the  report  of  the  first 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  Association,  from  which  it  appears 
that  it  was  formed  in  1850,  with  a  full  membership,  repre- 
senting every  town  on  the  Cape,  except  Mashpee.  Chatham 
was  represented  on  its  board  of  officers  by  the  Hon.  David 
Sears,  as  President.     There  were  then  thirteen  Vice  Pres- 


91 

idents,  of  which  Barnstable  secured  the  majority,  but  Yar- 
mouth, with  her  proverbial  sagacity,  laid  her  hands  on  the 
Secretaryship  and  Treasury.  From  a  copy  of  the  consti- 
tution, embodied  in  the  report,  I  learned  that  the  object  of 
the  association,  was  "to  encourage  and  promote  among  all 
the  native-born  and  descended  of  Cape  Cod,  temperance,  in- 
dustry, sincerity,  good-humor,  charity,  the  social  affections 
and  generous  impulses,"  —  objects  certainly  worthy  in  them- 
selves, but  especially  useful  in  binding  together  those  wand- 
erers from  home,  and  to  keep  alive  in  them  an  interest  in  the 
Cape  itself ;  and  to  this  end  a  provision  existed  that  the  Oc- 
tober quarterly  meeting  should  be  held  on  the  Cape,  at  some 
place  which  the  Executive  Committee  should  determine 
upon.  This  custom  has  fallen  into  disuse  and  the  neces- 
sity of  its  revival,  I  respectfully  urge  to  the  attention  of  the 
President. 

Of  the  charities  of  the  Association  and  the  use  made  of 
its  surplus  funds  in  aiding  worthy  lads  from  the  Cape  to  a 
more  complete  education  than  the  town  schools  afford,  I 
should  be  glad  to  speak  in  detail,  but  cannot  do  so  without 
the  book. 

Mr.  Marden  speaks  of  this  gathering  as  an  expression  of 
love  for  the  old  home,  of  the  desire  to  turn  back  to  the  days 
of  childhood,  with  its  associations  and  to  what  remains  of  its 
interests,  but  to  many  of  us  who  stand  in  the  second  genera- 
tion this  is  not  possible. 

What  is  there  then,  to  warrant  our  retaining  a  personal 
and  lively  interest  in  the  Cape  ?  For  myself,  the  answer 
and  its  explanation  is  simple  —  it  is  the  most  natural  thing 
in  the  world  to  do,  and  why  ?  I  remember  being  told  by  a 
traveller  who  met  on  the  plains  of  Arkansas  a  party  of  em- 
igrants from  the  Black  Forest,  that  when  he  asked  of  them 
their  destination,  was  told,  in  reply,  that  they  should  "  go  on 
until  they  found  a  hill."  The  memory  of  the  mountainous 
land  they  had  left  forbade  their  settling  in  no  matter  how 
fertile  a  plain ;  and  so  every  one  who  has  an  ounce  of  salt 
water  in  his  veins  naturally  turns  to  the  shore,  and  rests  sat- 
isfied only  when  he  has  the  sea  under  his  eyes,  and  the 
sound  of  its  waters  in  his  ears. 

To  these  shores,  then,  we  come,  as  the  blackbirds  and 
swallows,  in  the  spring,  to  our  own  delight,  and  with  the 
hope  that  we  may  contribute  something  to  your  welfare  and 
happiness,  and  receive  as  warm  a  welcome  as  they.  But 
contact  with,  and  study  of  the  Cape,  confirms  and  increases 


92 

our  love  for  it,  and  the  people  who  dwell  on  it.  We  have 
been  recently  told,  by  way  of  joke,  of  the  importance  of  the 
"  foreigner  "  to  our  country.  He  has  built  our  railways,  dug 
our  canals  (always  excepting  the  Cape  Cod  Canal.)  He 
rules  our  largest  cities ;  yes,  and  claims  that  he  discovered 
the  country  for  us.  So  indeed  he  did,  but  on  the  Cape  this 
fact  is  singularly  clear,  that  since  the  days  of  discovery  there 
has  been  hardly  any  discernible  foreign  invasion.  Here 
you  find  the  purest  old  English  stock,  with  a  slight  admix- 
ture of  the  best  Huguenot  blood, which  came  over  with  it ;  and 
here  remains,  in  full  force,  the  sturdy  character  and  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  Pilgrims,  adding  grace  and  dignity  to  the 
other  attractions  of  the  Cape.  Buckly,  in  his  "  History  of 
Civilization,' '  claims  that  races  are  practically  what  their 
natural  environments  make  them ;  but  it  would  appear  that 
the  Pilgrims  and  their  decendants  had  overcome  the  envi- 
ronment and  on  the  monotonous  level  of  these  shores  raised 
as  sturdy,  as  active  and  enduring  a  race,  as  ever  swarmed 
from  mountain  or  forest,  for  conquest,  place  and  power. 
And  yet,  it  may  have  been  environment  after  all,  for  if  toil- 
ing through  these  wastes  does  not  give  one  what  is  vulgarly 
called  "  sand  "  what  will?  And  if  holding  one  end  of  a  cod- 
line  all  day  is  not  learning  "  to  labor  and  wait "  what  is? 
And  so  the  spirit  of  Longfellow's  lines  is  in  this  people. 
"  Still  achieving,  still  pursuing,  "  they  stand  "  with  hearts 
for  any  fate,"  and  on  these  barren  sands,  and  in  these  wild 
seas,  carry  the  struggle  for  life  to  an  honorable  and  success- 
ful issue. 

The  Cape  Cod  Association  ought  to  actively  continue 
its  contact  with  the  Cape,  and  you  should  welcome  its  mem- 
bers by  special  invitation  to  hold  that  quarterly  meeting 
somewhere  on  the  Cape.  And,  in  its  behalf,  I  now  wish  for 
the  old  town  of  Yarmouth,  two  hundred  and  fifty  times  more 
prosperity  in  the  future  than  she  has  had  in  the  past. 

President  Thacher  said :  "  In  that  part  of  Yarmouth 
known  by  its  Indian  name  Hockanom,  there  stands  a  large 
bowlder;  against  this  rock  an  early  settler  built  himself  a  hut 
in  which  he  and  his  family  passed  their  first  winter  at  Yar- 
mouth. I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  a  de- 
scendent  of  that  settler,  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Taylor,  of  Boston. 

DR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  Bradford  says,  "the  character  and  education  of  the 
leading  men,  both  of  Plymouth  and    Massachusetts,  were 


93 

such  as  to  fit  them  for  the  enterprise  which  they  undertook, 
to  form  a  religious  and  political  society  founded  in  the  equal 
rights  of  men,  and  obedience  to  God,  as  their  supreme  law- 
giver and  governor."  Such  were  the  men,  who,  in  1639,  only 
nineteen  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth, 
began  those  institutions  and  labors,  which  here  have  been 
such  rich  sources  of  blessing  all  the  way  and  are  crowned 
with  such  happy  results,  and  which  afford  such  pleasure  and 
stimulus  on  this  occasion  of  review.  In  the  few  moments 
alloted  to  me,  permit  me  to  direct  attention  to  some  of  those 
peculiarities  and  agencies,  which  they  magnified  in  their 
plans  and  work,  and  which  became  such  important  factors 
in  all  they  accomplished. 

First,  individualism  and  deep-felt  personal  responsibili- 
ty must  have  been  a  marked  feature  of  the  earlier  times. 
They  were  too  near  Plymouth,  both  in  time  and  place,  to 
have  lost  that  outstanding  trait  which  so  characterized  all 
pioneers  in  human  reform  and  progress.  Men  are  like  trees. 
In  the  dense  forest,  they  are  much  alike ;  growth,  appearance, 
and  shading,  are  controlled  largely  by  the  pressure  of  en- 
vironment, in  the  open  field,  the  trunk  and  the  limbs  grow 
after  their  own  fashion.  One  of  the  very  painful  features  of 
life  in  the  city  is  the  loss  of  individualism.  Fashion,  acts  as  a 
cramp.  The  familiar  proverb  is  exemplified  if  not  written 
on  the  family  creed,  "  Better  be  out  of  the  world  than  out  of 
the  fashion."  So  in  great  churches,  the  overshadowing  in- 
fluence of  the  many  renders  small  and  obscure  great  numbers, 
who,  in  the  end,  have  no  need  of  a  napkin  in  which  to  lrde 
their  talent,  for  they  have  no  opportunity  to  exhibit  it.  Of 
how  many  of  the  great,  fashionable  congregations  it  may  be 
said  as  Gray  wrote  in  the  Country  Church-yard. 

"  Perhaps  ir\  tfys  neglected  spot  is  laid 

Sorr\e  J^eart  or\ce  pregnant  vfitri  celestial  fire, 

Haqds  tl\at  trie  rod  of  empire  n\igrit  rjave  swnyea 
Or  WaK'd  to  ecstacy  trie  living  lyre." 

But  there,  where  the  fields  were  new  and  everything  in 
social,  state  and  religious  life,  was  to  be  formed  on  an  original 
basis,  was  just  the  place  to  make  men  and  women  of 
unique  character  and  here  they  were  found,  as  their  works  tes- 
tify, for  a  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits,  and  none  but  those  who 
were  alive  to  the  intense  personal  call,  to  do  with  their  might 
whatsoever  their  hand  might  find  to  do,  could  have  accom- 
plished what  was  done  by  our  fathers  and  mothers. 

Next  the  religious  thought  and  life  was  eminent   in  all 


94 

they  planned  and  did.  This  is  apparent  in  the  fact  that  this 
anniversary  commemorates  alike  the  organization  of  church 
and  town,  for  they  were  coincident  or  nearly  so,  one 
and  the  same.  Like  the  commonwealth  of  Israel  in  the 
time  of  the  Judges  —  a  divine  model  was  followed.  It 
has  awakened  a  good  deal  of  comment  and  even  bitter 
criticism,  that  those  who  came  to  this  land  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  empire,  and  church,  and  all  free  institutions, 
should  have  failed  in  the  beginning  to  make  broad  and  dis- 
tinct the  line  of  demarkation  between  church  and  state. 
Having  fled,  as  the}'  did,  from  a  country  where  the  state 
tyrannized  over  the  church,  for  the  sake  of  civil  and  religious 
freedom,  how  natural  such  a  distinction  should  have  been 
carefully  drawn  !  But  this  is  easily  explained,  if  we  under- 
stand aright  the  great  thought  and  impulse  of  their  being ;  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  in  the  heart  and  outward  form,  was  every 
thing  to  them,  and  civilized  society  thus  constituted  was  the 
state.  There  was  no  aim,  no  desire  to  make  the  state,  as  such, 
subservient  to  the  church,  or  the  church  to  be  aided  by  the 
state  in  other  than  in  this  all-absorbing  interest.  A  theocra- 
cy, in  their  view,  was  the  most  natural  and  reasonable  of  all 
conditions  in  civilized  society,  and  out  of  this  thought  later 
grew  the  custom  requiring  all  citizens  to  contribute  to  the 
support  of  the  ordinances  and  institutions  of  the  gospel,  first,  to 
the  one  standing  order  and  subsequently,  to  any  other  denom- 
ination, which  they  might  favorably  join  through  preference. 
It  was  abhorrent  to  their  thought  of  right  and  duty  that  anyone 
should  live  in  the  enjoyment  of  citizenship  without  being  a  sup- 
porter of  the  institutions  of  religion.  It  was  no  crime,  no  matter 
for  reproach  that  the  fathers  took  this  high  spiritual  view  of 
things.  There  conception  of  duty  in  this  matter,  as  in  many 
others,  was  in  advance  of  the  times.  We  have  not  reached 
it  yet,  but  we  surely  shall  come  up  to  it  when  the  "  whole 
earth  is  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  and  the  king- 
doms of  this  world  have  become  the  kingdoms  of  the  Lord 
and  of  his  Christ ;"  when  the  people  and  nation  are  all  re- 
claimed it  will  not  matter  much  whether  it  be  named  church 
or  state,  or  both  united.  O,  what  a  glorious  land  there 
would  be  to-day,  if  this  high  ideal  of  the  fathers  had  con- 
tinued, and  made  this  rich  spiritual  life  the  only  life  of  our 
vast  country.  They  planned  better  than  we  have  builded  — 
the  honor  is  theirs,  the  dishonor,  ours.  Great  value  was 
placed  upon  education  by  those  who  founded  the  church 
and  town  here.     This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  chose 


95 

an  educated  ministry  for  their  teachers  and  leaders.  The  re- 
cord shows  that  well-nigh  every  pastor  located  here  has  been 
a  graduate  of  some  college.  Some  have  wondered  that  the 
Pilgrims  came  from  such  a  small  and  comparatively  unimpor- 
tant region  as  Scrooby,  in  England,  if  they  were  as  wise  in 
matters  pertaining  to  church,  state  and  educational  needs, 
as  has  been  claimed  for  them.  We  say,  yes!  what  they  knew 
not  when  they  left  Scrooby,  they  did  know  when  they  left 
Holland,  after  those  years  of  training  and  observation  there. 
So  wherever  their  feet  trod  and  their  hands  planted,  there 
was  the  school  hard  by  the  sanctuary.  So  in  the  beginning 
of  things  here.  Your  church  homes,  your  private  and  pub- 
lic libraries,  as  well  as  the  schools  and  churches  of  to-day 
are  prompt  witness  that  the  spirit  of  education  has  been  liv- 
ing and  breathing  through  all  the  ages.  It  was  from  here, 
that  the  pastor  who  held  the  pastorate  the  longest  sent  three 
of  his  sons  through  Harvard  College,  the  eldest  of  which 
planted  a  college  in  what  was  then  the  far  west,  and  his  liter- 
ary labors  remain  which  reflect  great  credit  upon  his  exten- 
sive scholarship.  The  youngest  daughter  of  that  same  cler- 
gyman sent  her  four  sons  through  college  and  into  the  gospel 
ministry.  The  eldest  of  whom  was  born  here,  and  who  at- 
tained to  such  eminence  in  scholarship  as  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  ripest  scholars  at  home  and  abroad.  He  died 
at  fifty. 

Your  local  historians  record  the  names  of  many  others 
of  the  sons  of  Yarmouth,  who  have  passed  through  the 
higher  departments  of  the  schools,  to  honored  positions  in 
church  and  state,  a  goodly  company,  of  which  any  town  may 
be  proud.  The  domestic,  family  life  of  the  people  has  been 
a  great  harmonizing  and  elevating  factor.  This  impression 
has  been  derived,  not  from  any  extensive  contact  with  the 
people  here,  for  I  am  virtually  a  stranger  in  this  early  home 
of  my  parents,  and  where  was  the  long  pastorate  of  my 
grandparent.  But  what  my  mother,  who  was  a  widow  from 
my  infancy,  taught  me  of  her  childhood  home  has  led  me  to 
think  that  Yarmouth  was  a  paradise  of  homes.  Parental 
government  was  there,  the  family  altar  was  there,  the  cove- 
nant of  God  was  remembered  there,  as  recorded  in  sacral 
Scriptures,  "  I  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and  thy  seed."  Warm 
affection  between  all  the  members  of  the  household  was  there ; 
and  the  holy  Sabbath  was  there,  the  most  precious  day  of  all 
the  week  in  its  home  life  and  sanctuary  service.  This  is  the 
way  the  matter  stands,  as  derived  from  the  source  mentioned. 


96 

and  strengthened  in  subsequent  years,  as  I  have  mingled 
with  families,  who  moved  from  this  vicinity.  In  one  of  the 
towns  in  Franklin  Comity  there  is  a  neighborhood  known  as 
Cape  street,  because  so  many  went  up  there  and  settled.  A 
more  intelligent,  virtuous,  religious  neighborhood  among 
the  yeomanry,  you  will  not  often  find.  A  broad  sympathy 
with  the  woes  and  suffering  of  others,  has  been  a  very  strong 
formative  influence  here.  This  state  of  things  would  grow  up 
naturally  and  almost  unconsciously  in  a  community  situated 
as  this  town  is,  with  the  sea  on  both  sides,  upon  which  so  many 
of  the  fathers,  sons  and  brothers,  in  years  gone,  more  espec- 
ially, obtained  their  livelihood.  The  sea  is  the  highway  of 
commerce  among  the  nations,  wonderful  in  vastness  and 
power  always,  but  how  grand  and  awful  to  behold  when  ris- 
ing into  wrath  under  the  lash  of  the  storm  king.  The  dead 
are  there,  in  great  numbers,  "unkiielled,  uncoffined  and  un- 
known." Who  can  live  by  the  sea,  visit  the  desolate  homes, 
see  the  widows  and  orphans  which  constitute  so  large  a  por- 
tion of  the  community  as  in  Marblehead  and  Gloucester  and 
along  this  Cape,  and  not  be  thoughtful,  pitiful,  and  full  of 
compassion?  Oh,  how  often  in  my  early  home,  so  far  from  the 
sea,  when  the  storm  was  raging  in  its  fury,  as  we  enjoyed 
our  own  peaceful  dwelling,  where  the  blaze  rose  high  from 
the  hearth  and  dispelled  the  gloom,  the  parent's  voice  would 
break  the  silence,  by  the  exclamation,  "  a  hard  time  for  poor 
sailors  to  night,"  and  then  the  prayer  would  follow  at  the 
close  of  evening,  that  God  would  be  with  them  on  the  deep. 
Where  did  she  learn  that  lesson  of  pity  and  prayer,  which 
filled  her  whole  life  ?  Right  here  by  the  sea,  and  from  the 
lips  and  experience  of  one  who  here  became  the  husband  of 
her  youth.  However  humble  was  our  cottage,  however 
scanty  the  daily  supply  in  the  larder,  no  benighted  traveller, 
no  homeless  vagrant  was  ever  turned  rudely  from  the  door. 
I  recite  not  these  things  to  laud  kith  and  kin,  but  to  show 
how  the  flower  of  kindly  affection,  transplanted  to  the  wilder- 
ness one  hundred  years  ago  from  this  congenial  clime,  lived 
and  flourished  there.     One  word  more. 

It  has  seemed  that  pride  of  place,  a  feeling  of  quality, 
has  entered  pretty  largely  into  the  composition  of  Old  Yar- 
mouth, and  has  transmitted  itself  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, not  as  a  blemish,  but  as  a  virtue.  It  has  served  to  keep 
things  up;  you  have  thought  well  of  yourselves,  and  there- 
by have  been  enabled  to  make  others  think  well  of  you. 
Whoever    saw  a  person    who   had  the  good  fortune  to  be 


97 

born  in  this  region,  who  has  not  been  most  happy  in  his  birth 
right.  Find  two  men  anywhere,  utter  strangers  before,  and 
let  them  discover  this  common  origin,  and  they  immediately 
embrace  as  brothers.  I  have  witnessed  such  instances  re- 
peatedly. A  man  said  to  me  the  other  day,  "  whenever  I 
find  a  man  who  came  from  the  Cape,  I  expect  to  see  one  who 
is  true  and  noble."  That  is  the  way  they  talk  about  you  over 
here  in  Boston.  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  feeling  here 
and  there  of  late  among  outsiders  that  you  have  somehow  got 
into  a  place  that  hinders  others  from  getting  in  as  they  would 
like.  The  eminent  are  often  the  object  of  envy  to  the  aspiring. 
Commercial  enterprise  would  like  to  have  this  Cape  sunken 
so  as  to  make  water  connection  more  direct  from  city  to 
city.  As  this  cannot  be  done,  as  the  next  best  thing,  it  is 
proposed  to  cut  you  off  from  the  mainland,  isolate  you  a 
little  more  by  the  surrounding  of  the  sea;  the  monster  dredg- 
ing machine  is  up  there,  near  Sandwich,  to  this  end.  Now, 
good  friends  if  it  should  happen  sometime  during  the  next 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  that  the  ship  canal,  which  has 
so  long  been  in  the  air,  should  become  a  substantial  reality 
in  earth  and  sea,  do  not  be  troubled  as  though  some  strange 
thing  had  happened  unto  you,  but  pass  right  along  as  of 
yore.  Keep  sacredly,  the  virtues  you  have  honored,  shut 
closely  the  gate  against  the  intrusion  of  anything  that 
would  mar  the  strength  and  beauty  of  your  princely  inheri- 
tance. By  a  patient  continuance  in  well-doing,  compel  those 
who  see  you,  from  near  or  afar,  to  exclaim,  as  they  do  this 
hour,  "behold  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  breth- 
ren to  dwell  together  in  unity."  "  As  the  dew  of  Hermon  and 
as  the  dew  that  descended  upon  the  mountains  of  Zion  ;  for 
there  the  Lord  commanded  the  blessing,  even  life  forever- 
more." 


The  president,  in  introducing  the  next  speaker,  said  :  At 
an  old  time  festival  held  in  New  Bedford,  a  son  of  the  Cape 
gave  the  following  sentiment,  "  Our  friends  of  New  Bedford, 
by  their  pacific  pursuits  pouring  light  upon  the  world." 

Some  two  hundred  years  ago  in  a  stormy  night  a  French 
vessel  came  ashore  on  the  outside  of  the  Cape,  of  the  passen- 
gers, officers  and  crew  of  that  ill-fated  vessel,  but  one  was 
saved,  one  young  French  boy,  too  young,  even  to  know  his 
name.  He  was  tenderly  cared  for  by  his  rescuers,  who 
named  him  Jean  Crapaud.      I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  in- 


98 

troducing  the  Hon.  W.  W.  Crapo,  of  New  Bedford,  and  I 
ask  Mr.  Crapo  to  pour  some  light  on  the  subject. 

MR.  CRAPO'S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  President :  I  cannot  claim  a  birthplace  in  the  old 
Town  of  Yarmouth,  nor  can  I  boast,  as  most  of  you  can,  a 
descent  from  one  of  its  early  settlers.  But  I  feel  quite  at 
home  on  Cape  Cod.  I  have  so  often  enjoyed  the  hospitality 
of  your  public  occasions,  and  have  so  often  taken  a  part  in 
your  public  festivities,  and  have  so  frequently  been  brought 
into  contact  with  your  social  life  that  I  count  myself  a  per- 
sonal friend,  with  an  intimacy*  close  enough  to  secure  for  me 
a  seat  at  the  family  table. 

I  am  mindful,  too,  of  that  little  boy,  to  whom  you  have 
alluded  in  introducing  me,  who,  seven  generations  ago,  in  a 
wild,  terrific  north-east  gale,  washed  from  a  dismasted  and 
wrecked  ship,  was  thrown  by  the  breakers  on  the  shores  of 
Cape  Cod.  The  people  of  Cape  Cod  were  kind  to  him  — 
that  little,  floating  waif  of  humanity  —  and  they  sheltered 
him  and  gave  him  a  home  and  a  chance  for  life.  If  my  an- 
cestor was  not  born  on  the  soil  of  Cape  Cod,  a  distinction 
which  you  prize  so  highly,  he  found  in  the  foaming  breakers 
and  the  sandy  beach  of  the  Cape  a  refuge  from  an  ocean  grave. 

In  listening  to  the  story  of  the  early  settlers  of  Yar- 
mouth, of  the  men  who  left  Plymouth  to  plant  here  the  seeds 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty  and  to  found  a  local  government 
resting  purely  on  the  will  of  the  governed,  the  facts  which 
impress  us  are  their  fortitude,  self-denial  and  suffering.  This 
bright,  gorgeous  summer  day  on  which  we  commemorate 
their  virtues  and  heroism,  typical  of  the  glorious  achieve- 
ments and  brilliant  results  which  crown  the  span  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years,  is  in  sharp  contrast  with  the  hunger 
and  cold,  the  disaster  and  privation  of  the  early  days.  It  is 
the  bleak  winter,  with  its  leaden  sky  and  chilling,  frost-biting 
winds,  and  not  the  pleasures  and  recreations  of  the  summer 
time,  that  we  associate  with  the  hardy,  sturdy,  robust,  God- 
fearing, tyrant-defying  pioneers  of  old  Yarmouth.  Those 
men  were  disciplined  and  toughened  by  the  rigors  of  harsh 
surroundings.  Their  mental  and  moral  muscles  were  trained 
by  personal  sacrifices.  They  became  strong-minded  and  stout- 
hearted through  toil  and  privation.  They  breasted  the 
ecclesiastical  storms,  which  waged  so  fiercely  in  their  day, 
with  an  unflinching  fidelity  to  truth,  and  as  a  result  we  breathe 
a  purer  moral  and  religious  atmosphere.     They  were  cheered. 


99 

by  a  constant  sense  of  duty  and  controlled  by  an  unconquer- 
able purpose.  And  the  New  Englander  of  to-day,  inheriting 
the  Pilgrim  spirit,  with  self-confidence  and  aspiration,  con- 
fronts every  emergency  and  is  ready  for  every  undertaking. 
He  is  ardent,  self-reliant  and  persistent.  His  public  spirit  is 
marked  with  earnestness,  progress  and  independence. 

We  have  recently  heard  much  discussion  concerning  the 
relative  standard  of  official  and  political  life  in  the  days  of 
Washington  and  our  own  time.  Whatever  may  be  said  of 
the  public  morals  of  one  hundred  years  ago  in  contrast  with 
the  present,  we  can  point  to  the  record  of  the  early  days  of 
Yarmouth  without  any  misgivings,  and  can  challenge  a  com- 
parison with  any  age  or  race.  This  community,  which  in  its 
early  beginnings  guarded  the  spiritual  welfare  of  its  mem- 
bers, by  making  compulsory  their  attendance  upon  church 
worship,  and  which  strengthened  the  common  defense  by  com- 
pulsory military  drill  and  service,  in  the  same  spirit  protect- 
ed the  integrity  of  official  life  and  secured  the  highest  effi- 
ciency in  administration,  by  compelling,  under  penalties  of 
the  law,  the  attendance  of  every  voter  at  the  town  meeting. 
The  Pilgrims  believed  in  a  democracy  which  not  only  per- 
mitted citizenship  but  made  obligatory  upon  the  citizen 
the  duties  of  citizenship.  They  believed  in  the  practice,  as 
well  as  the  theory,  of  a  free  and  equal  commonwealth.  Un- 
der such  a  system,  where  every  man  participated  in  public 
affairs,  and  where  indifference,  cowardice  and  personal  ease 
were  not  tolerated  as  excuses  for  neglect  of  the  duties  of  citi- 
zenship, the  political  morals  of  the  community  were  secure. 
In  those  days  there  were  no  party  rings  or  machines  ;  the  pro- 
fessional workers  in  politics  were  unknown;  and  the  lobby  was 
free  from  temptation  and  scandal,  since  there  was  no  lobby. 
The  purity  of  political  life  and  the  safety  of  the  state  can  al- 
ways be  assured  by  the  faithfulness  and  constancy  of  the 
people  in  the  discharge  of  the  primary  duties  of  citi- 
zenship. We  have  only  to  be  true  to  this  principle  in  our 
day  and  generation  as  were  our  fathers.  To  this  end  we 
must  educate,  as  they  did,  the  public  conscience  to  the  con- 
viction that  political  fidelity  is  simply  integrity  in  the  dis- 
charge of  public  trusts,  and  that  the  only  kind  of  honesty 
known  to  man  applies  to  political  as  to  ordinary  duties.  The 
Plymouth  Colonists  held  to  this  doctrine  and  they  acted  upon 
it,  and  they  were  enabled  thereby  to  organize  the  freest  and 
at  the  same  time  the  most  stable  and  conservative  political 
institutions  the  world  has  ever  known. 


100 

We,  their  children,  are  put  upon  our  honor  to  conduct 
the  present  so  that  it  shall  equal  the  past. 


The  President  then  said,  A  Poem  written  by  Mrs.  Mary 
M.  Bray,  will  be  read  by  her  son,  Chandler  M.  Bray. 

POEM. 

P'ar  back  in  shadowy  regions  of  the  Past, 
So  far,  that  truths  and  myths  seem  strangely  blent, 
A  shallop  frail  from  Scandinavian  shores, 
Sailing  south-west  on  venturous  errands  bent, 
Storm-tossed,  wave-beaten,  neared  at  last  a  coast, 
Low-lying,  stretched  along  the  waters  blue, 
To  weary  eyes,  long  vexed  with  restless  seas, 
A  sight  forever  welcome,  ever  new. 

Upon  the  deck,  amid  his  hardy  crew 

Of  Norsemen  bold,  stood  Thor-finn,  born  to  lead, 

Intent  and  watchful,  and  beside  him  there 

As  everywhere,  his  gentle  wife  Gundride. 

Nearer  they  came,  and  sailing  slowly  by, 

They  saw  long  lines  of  white  and  gleaming  sands, 

By  trailing  clouds  of  fleecy  mist  o'erhung, 

And  called  them,  "Furdustrandas,"  "  Wonder  Strands." 

So  runs  the  legend  in  Icelandic  lore, 

But  Thor-finn  passed  them  by  ;  and  the  sun  rose  and  set, 

And  other  mornings  dawned  and  evenings  waned, 

And  seasons  ran  their  wonted  round  and  met 

And  parted,  till  at  length  a  year  had  fled. 

A  year  !     What  is  it?     In  our  lives  so  brief, 

A  priceless  boon  ;  but  in  the  larger  plan 

Of  Nations,  it  is  like  a  wind-strewn  leaf. 

Thus  the  swift  years  sped  by  unheralded, 

Adown  the  silent  arches  of  the  Past. 

A  long  and  dim  procession,  and  behold  ! 

A  century  its  course  had  run  at  last, 

And  in  the  sunlight  or  the  moonlight  pale 

Still  as  before  glimmered  the  silvery  sands, 

Yet  unexplored,  to  map  or  chart  unknown, 

Still  were  they  "  Furdustrandas,"  Wonder-strands. 


101 

Three  centuries  more,  and  then  Columbus  rose, 
Like  a  new  sun,  and  proudly  led  the  way, 
From  east  to  west,  and  men  grew  vigorous 
In  the  strong  light  of  that  inspiring  day. 
They  turned  their  faces  to  the  western  world, 
They  sought  with  ardor,  countries  yet  unseen, 
And  faltered  not,  although  the  stormy  waves 
Of  a  tumultuous  ocean  rolled  between. 

And  than  came  Gosnold  with  his  English  crew, 

And  they  were  weary  of  the  salt  sea  fare  ; 

So  they  cast  anchor  in  the  spacious  bay, 

And  dropped  their  lines  and  guarded  them  with  care, 

And  on  the  royal  bounty  of  the  sea 

Feasted  like  kings,  —  and  called  the  shore  —  "  Cape  Cod," 

And  the  new  name  displaced  the  olden  ones, 

And  still  to  all  the  world,  —  it  is  —  Cape  Cod. 

In  early  winter,  when  the  days  were  short, 

And  cold  and  darkness,  dreary  spells  had  wrought 

O'er  sea  and  shore,  —  hither  by  destiny  led  — 

A  wind-blown  barque,  —  the  Mayflower  shelter  sought. 

Then  in  the  harbor  was  the  compact  framed  ; 

Then  the  white  strands  by  pilgrim  feet  were  trod ; 

"  It  might  have  been  "  !     Yes,  the  historic  site, 

Might  well  have  been  some  spot  on  dear  Cape  Cod. 

But  fate  decreed  it  not.     They  crossed  the  bay, 
And  Plymouth  Rock  became  the  chosen  shrine, 
Whereon  their  children  in  the  years  to  come, 
Should  rear  a  votive  gift  of  marbles  fine  ; 
A  shrine,  a  new- world  Mecca,  whereunto 
Should  journey  those  of  every  race  and  age, 
In  voluntary  homage  to  the  men, 
Who  left  for  us  this  noble  heritage. 

Pilgrims  of  Plymouth !     But  they  cherished  still 
Remembrance  of  their  early  camping  ground, 
And  back  to  Nauset  and  to  Mattacheese, 
Envoys  were  sent,  on  various  errands  bound  ; 
Until  in  sixteen  hundred  thirty-nine, 
"  A  grant  was  given,"  thus  the  old  records  run, 
"  To  take  up  lands  as  freemen,"  and  to  build 
At  Mattacheese,  Nobscussett,  Hockanom. 


102 

The  fine  old  Indian  names,  how  much  they  mean  ; 

All  moods  of  nature  in  them  mirrored  lie, 

Promptings  of  winter's  cold,  of  summer's  heat, 

The  frowning  clouds,  the  azure  of  the  sky. 

Hints  of  bold,  wooded  shores,  of  rock-strewn  plains. 

Of  fertile  valleys  and  of  sterile  hills, 

Of  upland  meadows,  lying  green  and  calm, 

Of  leaping  torrents  and  of  rippling  rills. 

We  must  not  let  them  slip  away  from  as, 
To  drift  and  perish  in  dark  Lethe's  flow  ; 
Nay,  rather  let  us  link  their  melod}*- 
With  all  the  pleasant  things  that  life  can  show, 
With  towns  and  streets  and  parks  and  leafy  lanes, 
And  summer  homes,  like  one  not  far  away, 
Which  makes  Nobscussett,  still  a  word  of  cheer, 
To  all  the  region  round  about  the  bay. 

It  is  the  last,  sad  service  we  can  give, 

To  keep  alive  the  memory  of  a  race, 

Whose  pomp  and  power  exhaled  like  morning  mist, 

Before  the  coming  of  the  strange  "  pale  face." 

This  let  us  do,  and  send  the  custom  down 

To  "future  generations  "yet  unborn, 

We  who  now  till  their  pleasant  hunting  grounds. 

Heirs  of  the  men  who  ate  Iyanough's  corn. 

To  us  the  names  bring  only  pleasant  dreams, 
But  to  the  Pilgrims,  something  strange  and  weird 
Breathed  vaguely  through  the  sounding  syllables  ; 
Some  taint  of  heathendon  perhaps  they  feared. 
Their  hearts  were  sore  with  tender  memories, 
And  homesick  yearnings  for  things  left  behind, 
To  their  new  homes,  amid  the  wilderness, 
Remembrances  of  England,  they  would  bind. 

The  infant  settlement  at  Mattacheese, 

Ere  it  became  a  town,  desired  a  name, 

An  English  name,  to  soothe  the  half-owned  pain. 

Among  the  settlers,  some  from  Yarmouth  came, 

From  Yarmouth  by  the  sea.     "  We'll  build,"  they  said, 

"Another  Yarmouth  on  this  wave-washed  shore  ; 

The  soul's  demand  for  freedom  and  for  peace 

May  here  be  satisfied.     What  seek  we  more  ?  " 


103 

We  search  the  records  once  again,  and  read 
The  names  of  those  who  pioneered  the  way, 
"Hallet  and  Matthews,  Thacher,  Howes  and  Crowe, 
Simpkins  and  Ryder,  Taylor,  Sears  and  Gray," 
The  old  familiar  names,  —  how  dear  they  are,  — 
Two  centuries  and  a  half  have  rolled  away, 
Yet  on  our  streets  and  in  our  homes  they  live, 
Our  childhood  knew  them,  —  they  are  here  to-day. 

Two  centuries  and  a  half!  Through  all  these  years, 

The  little  town  has  kept  its  even  pace  ; 

The  Nation's  giant  growth,  it  has  not  shared, 

A  "looker  on"  amid  the  rush  and  race. 

Far  from  the  busy  centres  of  great  gains, 

The  dizzying  whir  of  multitudinous  looms, 

Its  peaceful  atmosphere  has  never  throbbed 

With  the  discordant  jars  of  strikes  and  booms. 

No  mine  with  glittering  promise  lures  the  crowd, 
No  wondrous  beach  attracts  a  transient  throng, 
Chiefly  and  best,  it  is  a  town  of  homes, 
With  all  the  elements  that  make  them  strong ; 
Of  peaceful,  prosperous,  safe  and  happy  homes ; 
Yet  here  a  world-wide  highway  opens  free, 
And  the  quick  blood  stirs  with  adventurous  thrills, 
Born  of  close  contact  with  the  restless  sea. 

In  the  far  north,  where  the  low-circling  sun, 
Makes  night  of  hours  that  else  were  counted  day, 
And  the  aurora  with  its  rosy  flame, 
Makes  of  the  night,  almost  a  dawning  gay, 
In  tropic  isles,  where  palm  trees  lift  themselves 
Stately  and  tall,  to  meet  that  burning  sun, 
And  dark-skinned  natives  sit  in  robes  of  white, 
Smoking  long  pipes  until  the  day  is  done. 

In  countries  where  strange  accents  meet  the  ear, 
And  all  the  usages  of  life  seem  new, 
Where  the  Mohammedan  at  sunset  kneels, 
Or  where  the  Hindoo  shields  his  food  from  view 
Of  passing  strangers,  from  his  race  as  well, 
Save  those  belonging  to  his  creed  and  caste. 
Where  men  to  idols  bow,  and  blindly  cling 
To  the  dark  superstitions  of  the  past. 


104 

Amid  such  scenes  her  sailor-sons  are  found  ; 

Conversant  and  at  ease  with  foreign  modes, 

Equal  to  the  demands  of  every  clime, 

Yet  holding  still  to  the  New  England  codes. 

With  minds  whose  steady  poise  unswerving  keeps 

In  all  their  varied  wanderings  afar  ; 

With  hearts  as  true  to  home  and  native  land, 

As  is  the  needle  to  the  polar  star. 

I  crave  your  pardon,  if  I  pause  too  long, 
Paying  my  tribute  to  the  work  and  worth 
Of  Yarmouth  —  nay  —  that  limit  were  unjust,  — 
Of  Cape  Cod  seamen.     Where  in  all  the  earth 
Can  one  find  men  of  more  heroic  mould, 
More  nobly  brave  ;  and  yet  to  honors  due, 
Laying  no  claim,  content  with  duty  done  ? 
Alas  !  alas !  that  they  are  now  so  few. 

She  has  had  other  sons,  and  has  them  still, 

To  whom  she  well  may  turn  with  love  and  pride. 

In  all  the  cities  of  the  land  they  dwell, 

Even  where  the  broad  Pacific  rolls  its  tide 

In  through  the  Golden  Gate.     And  some  have  brought 

Their  wealth  and  their  renown,  and  at  her  feet 

Have  laid  them,  saying  "  Take  and  use, 

For  since  thou  gavest  us  birth,  it  is  but  meet." 

O  Town  beloved  !     Thy  children  homeward  turn, 

This  birthday  festival  with  thee  to  hold ; 

Some  have  been  wanderers  from  thy  hearthstone  long, 

And  some  have  seldom  strayed  beyond  the  fold ; 

But  we  are  here,  respondent  to  thy  call, 

Thou  hast  an  equal  welcome  for  us  all. 

The  years  fly  fast,  and  we  are  growing  old, 
But  thou  art  mistress  of  a  secret  rare  ; 
Well  dost  thou  keep  the  charm  perennial, 
Thou  dost  not  change  except  to  grow  more  fair. 
To  breathe  again  thy  soft,  salt  air  is  bliss  — 
We  look  about  us  —  is  there  aught  we  miss  ? 

The  fields  invite  us,  as  they  did  of  old, 

To  gather  Mayflowers  in  the  springtime  sweet, 

Or  spicy  swamp-pink  with  its  odorous  breath, 

Or  blackberries  ripening  in  midsummer's  heat ; 

The  rolling  hills  yet  witness  to  the  care, 

Of  those  who  thought  to  plant  the  pine  trees  there. 


The  quiet  of  the  ponds  in  whose  green  depths, 

The  darting  pickerel  lures  the  angler's  rod, 

Is  broken  still  by  plash  of  gliding  oars 

And  merry  shouts,  and  rooted  in  the  sod, 

The  water  lily  lifts  its  snowy  cup 

Unto  the  sun,  and  yields  its  sweetness  up. 

And  all  along  the  shore  the  changeful  sea, 
Stretches  its  shimmering  lines,  now  faintly  blue, 
Then  bright'ning  hour  by  hour,  then  dull  and  grey, 
Again  as  dark  as  is  the  violet's  hue 
Lending  to  thee  a  grandeur  and  a  grace, 
A  semblance  of  illimitable  space. 

The  long  elm-shaded  street  its  quiet  keeps, 
The  clustering  church  spires  upward  rise,  and  near 
The  library  and  the  school-house  standing  by, 
Proclaim  the  tempered  spirit  reigning  here, 
The  spirit  shown  in  outward  visible  signs, 
That  rings  in  Whittier's  familiar  lines. 

We  look  about  us :  is  there  naught  we  miss  ? 

Ah  yes  !  the  faces  that  we  used  to  see  ; 

Alas !  the  voices  that  we  used  to  hear  ; 

Are  they  not  whispering  messages  to  thee  ? 

Are  they  not  with  thee  on  thy  festal  day, 

For  who  indeed,  have  loved  thee  more  than  they  ? 

Shades  of  the  Fathers  !  are  they  looking  down, 
And  with  anointed  vision  do  they  see, 
From  some  far  realm,  beyond  the  ether  blue, 
All  that  the  future  years  shall  bring  to  thee  ? 
Perchance,  perchance,  we  breathe  in  troubled  cries, 
For  we  are  blind,  —  the  future  hidden  lies. 

Now  we  are  here ;  this  is  our  brief  day 

To  dream,  to  work,  to  love,  and  to  aspire  : 

We  fain  would  bring  some  birthday  gift  to  thee  ; 

What  can  we  bring,  save  love  and  the  desire 

Ever  to  grow  more  worthy  for  thy  sake ! 

O,  Mother  Town  !  accept  the  gift  we  make. 


106 

The  president  in  introducing  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Dodge 
said,  "  The  gentleman  who  will  next  address  you  needs  no 
introduction  from  me.  He  will  take  for  his  subject,  "  The 
First  church  of  Yarmouth  "  For  more  than  twenty  years  he 
has  been  its  beloved  pastor,  and  we  all  of  us  know  and  re- 
spect him. 

ADDRESS  OF   REV.   JOHN   W.   DODGE. 

I  am  truly  proud  to  be  associated  with  this  most  interest- 
ing and  memorable  occasion  in  the  history  of  Old  Yarmouth. 
For  though  not  a  native,  a  residence  of  twenty-one  years  is 
a  virtual  naturalization.  If  I  could  not  say,  as  I  have  been 
saying  during  the  preparation  for  this  anniversary,  "our 
fathers  came  here",  I  should  feel  like  the  hero  of  Dr.  Hale's 
story,  "that  I  was  a  man  without  a  country".  I  have  been 
long  enough  on  Cape  Cod,  mingling  with  her  people,  and  iden- 
tified with  her  life  to  feel  that  her  interests  are  mine,  and 
whenever  I  hear  her  spoken  of  in  terms  of  disparagement 
m}^  blood  boils  with  indignation. 

My  topic  is  the  old  church  of  Yarmouth.  And  on  this 
gala  day  in  the  old  homestead,  the  grandmother  church  has 
the  chair  of  honor.  No  tribute  of  respect  would  have  been 
acceptable  to  our  fathers  that  did  not  recognize  the  suprema- 
cy of  the  church.  It  was  the  topmost  tiling  in  life  to  them. 
It  was  in  obedience  to  a  conviction  of  this  kind  that,  when 
it  become  necessary  a  few  years  ago  to  build  a  new  meeting- 
house they  located  it  on  the  highest  hill  in  the  town.  There 
it  stands  as  a  beacon  for  sailors  on  the  Bay,  visible  for 
many  miles  at  sea  as  the  Parthenon  was  visible  to  the  sailors 
on  the  blue  Aegean.  They  did  not  prize  so  much  the  pur- 
ple sunsets  over  the  quiet  summer  waters  that  might  be  wit- 
nessed from  its  windows,  or  that  they  might  almost  descry 
from  its  tower,  both  the  harbor  where  the  Mayflower  lay  at 
Provincetown,  and  the  Rock  where  the  landing  was  made.  It 
was  even  less  a  matter  of  thought  that  it  would  be  hard 
work  for  successive  generations  to  climb  up  Zion's  hill  to 
worship  week  by  week.  They  were  ready  to  face  the  sweep- 
ing blasts  of  the  fierce  Northers  that  almost  lifted  them  from 
their  feet,  and  they  saw  no  good  reason  why  their  children 
should  not  be  as  hardy  as  themselves.  The  church  was  the 
inspirer  of  our  fathers  though  all  the  self-sacrifices  that  we 
delight  to  recall  and  honor  to-day.  The  church  was  before 
the  town,  the  town  was  for  the  church.  They  came  here  to 
enjoy  freedom  to  worship,  and    built    the  town  around  the 


107 

church,  as  if  to  maintain  and  defend  it.  Though  it  is  true 
that  in  this  colony  it  was  not  required  by  law  that  voters 
should  be  members  of  the  church,  as  it  was  in  Massachusetts 
and  New  Haven,  still  they  placed  the  standard  of  character 
necessary  to  entitle  one  to  vote,  so  high  that  practically  few 
others  than  church  members  could  enjoy  the  privilege,  and 
as  a  matter  of  history,  the  church  has  been  to  the  life  of  the 
town,  what  the  spinal  chord  is  to  the  body.  There  has  been 
shown  here  on  a  small  scale,  an  illustration  of  what  has  recent- 
ly been  said  by  one  of  our  most  able  church  historians,  that  the 
"  church  is  the  soul  and  spirit  of  all  true  civilization,  of  all 
true  liberty,  of  all  true  knowledge."  The  life  of  the  town, 
both  public  and  private,  has  gathered  about  the  life  of  this 
church.  It  has  been  the  one  essentially  unchanging  power 
through  all  the  changes  of  the  generations  past. 

But  now,  when  you  attempt  to  reproduce  the  facts  of 
the  past  even  for  a  succinct  view,  you  find  it  has  melted 
away  as  if  it  were  a  vision ;  we  do  not  know  who  composed  this 
church  in  the  beginning,  nor  how  many  of  them  there  were, 
except  by  inference  from  the  Colony  Records.  We  have 
absolutely  no  data  for  determining  the  female  membership. 
We  do  not  know  just  where  the  old  church  stood,  nor  when 
it  was  built.  We  have  no  record  of  their  creed  or  their  cove- 
nant. We  do  have  some  report  of  their  troubles,  for  they 
very  soon  got  into  hot  water  with  their  ministers,  and  the 
trouble  lasted  so  long  and  gave  them  so  much  pain  that  since 
they  got  over  it  in  1667  they  have  been  probably  the  most 
harmonious  and  peaceful  church  that  could  be  found  in  the 
Commonwealth.  There  have  been  twelve  ministers  before 
the  present  incumbent,  and  they  have  been  of  as  many  types 
as  the  twelve  apostles.  The  first  three  were  English  Univer- 
sity men,  godly  and  useful.  They  brought  the  old  world 
training  with  them,  and  were  as  good  as  the  best  of  their 
contemporaries.  Then  came  Cotton,  grandson  of  the  famous 
Boston  minister  and  graduate  of  Harvard,  a  home  product. 
Greenleaf  of  Newbury,  also  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  who  was 
abreast  of  the  times  in  one  respect  at  least,  that  he  was  the 
father  of  thirteen  children.  After  him,  Thomas  Smith,  of 
Barnstable,  who  served  on  a  small  salary  during  the  hard 
times  of  the  French  and  Indian  war.  Grindal  Rawson,  the 
story  teller  and  wit,  who  remarked,  when  no  one  could  find 
the  "place  in  the  burying-ground  where  Mr.  Cotton's  grave 
was,  that  "  he  was  the  only  one  of  the  first  seven  ministers 
whose  dust  was  committed  to  the  earth  in  Yarmouth,  what- 


108 

ever  the  ministers  suffered  here,  the  worm  did  not  feed  on 
them."  We  must  infer  that  Mr.  Rawson  had  a  somewhat 
uncomfortable  time.  After  him,  came  the  enthusiastic  young 
Mr.  Green,  the  son  of  the  Barnstable  minister,  who  died  at 
his  post  six  years  after,  greatly  lamented.  This  brings  us  to 
our  modern  times  when  Rev.  Mr.  Alden  comes  on  the  scene, 
a  little  man  with  his  antique  wig,  small  clothes  and  three- 
cornered  hat,  witty  and  wise.  He  worked  through  the  time  of 
the  Revolutionary  war.  With  him  is  associated  the  old,  old 
meeting-house  of  the  grandfathers,  with  its  sounding-board, 
square  pews,  deacons'  seat  and  spacious  galleries.  Then  fol- 
lows Mr.  Cogswell,  first  as  colleague,  and  then  a  spastor  alone. 
He  is  the  reviver  of  the  doctrine  of  the  fathers,  placing  a 
catechism  in  every  house.  We  remember  him  to-day  as  the 
devoted  friend  of  education,  the  consolidator  of  the  schools, 
who  looked  out  that  the  young  men  of  his  congregation 
married  orthodox  wives  and  the  girls  good  orthodox  hus- 
bands ;  who  did  so  much  towards  securing  a  new  church, 
and  left  means  to  perpetuate  preaching  in  the  same  line  of 
truth  by  a  liberal  legacy.  Of  the  brethren  who  still  survive 
I  need  not  speak.  They  are  doing  good  work  elsewhere  in 
the  land.  This  church  has  been  a  teacher  to  me,  and  through 
its  history  I  have  found  the  best  introduction  to  general 
church  history.  The  life  of  one  church  is  like  a  geological 
section  cut  through  the  country,  which  shows  the  general 
character  of  the  earth's  crust.  The  course  of  the  religious 
life  of  one  church  is  an  index  of  the  movements  that  have 
taken  place  on  the  wider  field.  The  first  forty  years  con- 
nects us  closely  with  the  English  Puritan  history,  for  we  had 
ministers  trained  under  those  influences  Then  came  the 
gradual  decay  of  spiritual  life  here,  as  a  part  of  the  wide- 
spread retrogression  in  spiritual  life  generally.  The  pressure 
and  trial  of  wars  make  their  mark  upon  the  church  life,  as 
do  the  colonization  westward  and  subsequent  revival  periods. 
The  church  to-day  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  past.  Hereditary 
influences  have  been  at  work  developing  a  certain  well- 
defined  character.  There  has  been  less  outside  pressure, 
less  to  deflect  us  from  the  primitive  Puritan  type  than  in  the 
newer  parts  of  New  England.  The  original  stock  has  had 
the  field  to  itself,  still  we  have  been  in  communication  with 
the  wide  world  by  means  of  commerce,  and  though  leading 
in  earlier  days  a  somewhat  isolated  life  on  one  side,  the 
broadening  influences  of  intercourse  with  the  world,  by  sea, 
have  not  been  lost  upon  us. 


109 

A  history  like  this  we  celebrate  to-day,  affords  an  illus- 
tration of  the  mission  of  the  country  church.  We  naturally 
ask  to-day  what  has  this  church  done  for  the  men  and  wo- 
men who  have  lived  here  through  eight  generations?  And 
the  answer  is,  it  has  built  up  a  sturdy,  liberal,  philanthropic, 
genial  character.  Its  children  have  been  equal  to  the  work 
laid  upon  them.  They  could  Christianize  the  Indians,  or 
grapple  with  the  problems  of  war  or  enterprise  as  they  came 
up, —  they  are  doing  it  now.  I  made  a  journey  across  the 
country  a  little  while  ago,  and  thought  I  would  look  up  my 
parishioners.  I  found  them  in  Chicago,  in  Kansas  City,  in 
Flagstaff,  Arizona,  in  Denver  and  Golden  and  San  Francisco. 
I  said  to  myself,  we  are  here  on  the  rim  of  the  continent,  a 
little  country  church,  but  really  our  forces  are  deployed  along 
a  line  that  stretches  from  ocean  to  ocean.  Does  any  one  who 
visits  us  in  the  quiet  of  our  ordinary  days  ask,  what  do  you  have 
to  do  with  the  seething  life  of  this  great  nation  ?  We  answer, 
my  friend,  we  are  training  the  men  who  are  at  the  bottom, 
and  the  top,  too,  for  that  matter,  of  these  great  enterprises. 
It  is  quiet  here,  we  have  no  looms,  no  bell  rouses  you  at  five 
in  the  morning,  or  whistle  startles  you  at  noon.  But  this  is 
only  home ;  our  business  is  in  Boston,  in  Chicago  and  San 
Francisco.  Commonwealth  Avenue  is  very  quiet,  almost  as 
much  so  as  Main  Street,  here,  during  office  hours.  Our  men 
are  at  home  to-day  ;  they  throng  this  tent.  Look  around  you 
here,  this  is  Yarmouth  as  she  is  with  her  children  at  home. 
To  keep  up  the  supply  of  efficient  workers  at  the  front,  is  our 
mission  still,  we  have  been  doing  it  for  a  quarter  millennium, 
and  we  expect  to  keep  on  till  the  whole  millennium  is  end- 
ed. The  people  that  have  descended  from  the  Matthews, 
the  Crowells,  the  Thachers,  and  the  Ryders  are  to  have  as 
much  influence  on  the  character  and  life  of  the  future,  as 
their  ancestors  have  had  upon  the  past. 

I  will  give  you,  Mr.  President,  this  sentiment  as  I  close. 
The  old  church  of  Yarmouth,  the  spiritual  guide  of  the  past, 
the  inspirer  of  the  present,  the  hope  of  the  future,  her  spirit  is 
everywhere,  her  heart  is  here. 


The  president  then  said :  "  Cape  Cod  has  always  been 
proud,  and  justly  proud  of  its  sea  captains,  a  race  of  men,  alas, 
too  fast  disappearing,  but  we  are  thankful  that  there  are 
some  still  with  us  today.  I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  intro- 
ducing one  of  them  to  you,  Capt.  Thomas  Prince  Howes,  of 


110 

Dennis,  and  a  better  seaman  never  trod  the  quarter-deck  of 
a  ship." 

CAPT.  HOWES'S   ADDRESS. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  It  is  not  neces- 
sary for  me  to  say  that  this  has  been  a  great  and  glorious 
clay  for  Yarmouth  and  Dennis.  I  think  you  have  all  had  a 
good  time ;  as  for  myself,  after  hearing  the  encomium  upon 
the  men  who  founded  Yarmouth,  I  feel  some  two  inches  tall- 
er than  I  did  this  morning,  The  hour  is  getting  late,  and  I 
do  not  propose  to  weary  you  by  going  over  what  has  already 
been  said. 

Our  fathers  made  a  wise  selection  of  locality  when  they 
fixed  on  Yarmouth ;  it  had  many  varied  advantages  as  a 
place  of  settlement.  It  was  in  close  proximity  by  water  to 
Plymouth,  a  safe  harbor  for  vessels  was  close  at  hand  ;  Boston 
was  within  seven  or  eight  hours'  sail  with  a  fair  wind  ;  the  ex- 
tensive salt  marshes  offered  abundant  fodder  for  their  sheep 
and  cattle  ;  fresh  water  everywhere,  in  ponds  and  springs  and 
running  brooks,  was  in  abundant  supply.  Dennis  joins  in  this 
celebration  for  the  reason  that  for  one  hundred  and  fifty-four 
years  it  was  a  part  of  the  town  of  Yarmouth ;  it  included 
the  ancient  villages  of  Nobscussett,  Sesuit,  Qui  vet  on  the 
North  side,  and  Bass  Ponds  on  the  South  side  ;  two  of  the 
original  grantees  made  their  homes  there,  Thomas  Howes 
and  John  Crowe,  and  I  think  they  showed  good  judgment  in 
selecting  the  eastern  part  as  their  future  home.  It  is  evi- 
dent they  lost  no  time  in  laying  the  foundation  of  the  new 
town :  the  church  was  at  once  gathered,  constables  were 
soon  appointed  and  order  reigned  in  the  wilderness.  That 
the  men  who  founded  this  town  came  here  with  a  sense  of 
justice  in  their  hearts  is  plainly  to  be  seen  in  their  treatment 
of  the  Indians,  as  well  as  in  the  readiness  with  which  they 
submitted  to  a  re-adjustment  of  their  division  of  the  lands 
and  accepted  the  settlement  by  Miles  Standish,  without  an}' 
complaint.  Socrates  said :  "  That  state  in  which  the  citizens 
pay  most  respect  to  the  laws,  is  in  the  best  condition  in  peace, 
and  invincible  in  war."  Our  fathers  were  a  law-abiding  peo- 
ple, with  a  spirit  of  reverence  for  justice,  truth  and  religion  ; 
a  town  founded  by  such  men  could  not  fail  of  having  a  his- 
tory to  be  proud  of.  The  readiness  with  which  our  people 
have  taken  to  the  sea,  has  led  me  to  fancy  that  perhaps  some 
of  the  blood  of  those  old  Danish  marauders  who  harried  the 
East  coast  of  England  for  two  centuries,  may  have  got  mixed 


Ill 

with  that  of  Anglo  Saxon  ancestors,  some  of  whom  came 
from  East  Anglia,  where  the  Vikings  mostly  settled.  The 
division  of  the  town  took  place  in  1793 ;  it  was  done  by  the 
mutual  consent  of  both  sections  of  the  old  town  —  it  re- 
quired no  lobbying  at  the  State  House  to  effect  the  separa- 
tion—  and  the  two  towns  have  always  dwelt  beside  each 
other  in  peace  and  harmony.  Abraham  and  Lot  were  not 
more  determined  to  be  at  peace  than  the  towns  of  Yarmouth 
and  Dennis  during  their  separate  existence.  Dennis  has  not 
had  a  long  history  —  I  can  remember  a  large  part  of  it  —  my 
father  was  born  in  Yarmouth,  was  nineteen  years  old  when 
the  town  was  divided.  When  Dennis  was  incorporated,  our 
national  flag  bore  fifteen  stars,  now  forty-two  are  emblazon- 
ed thereon.  Our  Government  was  then  so  feeble  that  it  sub- 
mitted to  pay  tribute  to  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  six  thousand 
stand  of  arms  and  equipments  to  match.  It  was  one  of  the  fire- 
side stories  of  my  childhood,  that  Mr.  Reuben  Taylor  of  Hock- 
onom,  being  chased  by  some  of  the  boats  of  those  Barbary 
Corsairs,  fought  them  from  the  stern  of  his  vessel  with  a 
single  gun  and  with  only  the  assistance  of  the  cabin  boy, 
the  captain  and  crew  having  declined  to  fight,  beat  them  off 
and  saved  the  vessel  from  plunder  and  the  crew  from  cap- 
tivity. Such  was  the  condition  of  the  United  States-  Gov- 
ernment in  1793,  not  one  hundred  years  ago.  "  There  shall 
be  a  handful  of  corn  on  the  earth  upon  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tains, the  fruit  thereof  shall  shake  like  Lebanon." 

The  nation  then  so  weak,  now  rejoices  "  like  a  strong 
man  to  run  a  race."  It  may  be  claimed  that  Dennis,  under 
the  circumstances,  has  very  fairly  kept  pace  with  the  prog- 
ress of  the  country.  We  had  no  mail  in  1793  ;  we  only 
had  one  meeting-house  at  that  time.  The  schools  were  not 
of  first  quality,  although  the  teachers  were  often  men  of 
college  education,  seldom  anything  but  the  three  R's  was 
taught.  Boys  hardly  ever  attended  the  summer  schools  af- 
ter reaching  ten  years  of  age  ;  after  that  age  they  were  sent 
to  sea,  or  put  at  work  on  the  farm.  Now,  happily,  we 
have  changed  all  that.  The  town  is  free  from  debt,  five 
school-houses  with  fourteen  schools  afford  means  for  the  edu- 
cation of  all  the  children.  The  poor  are  cared  for,  the  labor 
of  each  benefits  all ;  four  meeting-houses  furnish  preaching 
to  all  who  have  ears  to  hear,  and  hearts  to  profit  by  the 
spoken  word,  and  we  have  the  summer  visitor  whose  gen- 
tle presence  is  like  a  bow  of  promise.  We  abate  nothing  of 
heart  or  hope  for  the  future  of  our  towns.     Should  the  time, 


112 

however,  come,  when  their  citizens  shall  cease  to  venerate 
the  memories  we  this  day  celebrate,  then  the  glory  of  this 
ancient  town  will   have   departed,   and   its  last  hour  have 

struck.  

The  president  then  said  :  "  There  is  one  here  who  has 
well  served  this  town  and  country  on  the  battle  field,  and 
who  has  been  honored  in  a  neighboring  state  by  a  seat  in  her 
judiciary.  I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you, 
Judge  Darius  Baker,  of  Newport,  R.  I." 

JUDGE  BAKER'S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  President :  "  On  the  festal  day  of  Old  Yarmouth, 
which  is  the  common  mother  of  most  of  us  now  present,  I 
may  be  pardoned  if  I  boast  that  I  was  "to  the  manor 
born,"  and  that  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  my  ancestors 
have  lived  and  died  within  two  or  three  miles  of  the  spot 
where  the  first  of  them  dwelt,  Yelverton  Crowe,  the  first 
settler,  I  believe,  on  the  south  side  of  this  town.  I  should 
be  unjust  to  you  as  well  as  to  myself,  if  at  this  late  hour,  I 
attempted  to  say  what  I  have  had  in  mind  to  speak  of,  and  I 
shall  only  express  my  gratification  at  being  here  and  in  being 
permitted  to  share  with  yon  the  pleasures  of  this  celebration. 
But  I  have  a  duty  to  another  to  perform.  Some  fifty  years 
ago  a  young  minister  came  to  the  town  of  Dennis  and  set- 
tled there,  preaching  one  year  on  the  north  side  of  the  town 
and  afterwards  at  South  Dennis.  I  refer  to  one  who  will 
doubtless  be  remembered  by  some  of  the  older  people  here 
present,  and  whose  memory  is  preserved  in  the  names  of 
some  of  the  well-known  citizens  of  these  ancient  towns.  I 
mean  the  Rev.  Thatcher  Thayer.  After  a  long  and  active 
life  in  the  cit}'  of  Newport,  where  he  has  been  a  great  power 
for  good,  he  now  lives  in  quiet  retirement,  and  owing  to  the 
condition  of  his  health  he  is  unable  to  be  here,  although  it 
would  have  afforded  him  great  pleasure  to  respond  to  your 
kind  invitation  in  person.  He  has,  however,  written  a  few 
lines  commemorative  of  this  event,  which,  at  his  request,  and 
with  your  permission,  Mr.  President,  I  will  now  read. 

DR.  THAYER'S  LETTER. 
"  MEMORIES  OF  FORTY-EIGHT  YEARS  AGO." 

Yarmouth!  Dennis!  Not  rich  indeed  in  products  of 
the  soil  —  though  reaping  harvests  from  the  sea  and  finding 
treasures  in  the  sand  —  but  fertile  in  men.  A  race  of  un- 
mixed English  —  their  very  names  declaring  their  lineage  — 
forms  and  features  and  complexion  sometimes  repeating  their 


113 

far-away  Northmen  descent,  and  one  saw  in  some  tall,  vigo- 
rous, fair-haired,  young  seaman  on  his  quarter-deck  the  very 
likeness  of  a  youthful  Viking,  such  as  sailed  these  waters 
long  before  the  Pilgrims  came.  A  population  wonderfully 
homogeneous,  with  no  foreign  element  to  disturb  town  meet- 
ings, conducting  assemblies  with  instinct  for  parliamentary 
order  and  a  long-inherited  ability  to  debate  and  vote  in  har- 
monious sequence.  No  extremes  of  social  condition  where 
mushroom  riches  look  down  with  pride  and  hopeless  poverty 
looks  up  with  bitterness ;  but  diversified  competence,  where 
the  humblest  table  could  furnish  at  will  a  "quahaug  chowder" 
that  no  New  York  or  Paris  cuisine  could  approach.  No 
need  of  Socialistic  theories  to  teach  provision  for  each  by 
consolidation  of  all ;  and  keep  men  from  having  nothing  by 
leaving  them  nothing  to  have  —  but  a  social  system  of  natu- 
ral growth,  where  individual  property  was  sacred  and  the  in- 
dividual self  was  eminently  distinct,  while  a  wonderful  ex- 
tent and  replication  of  kindred  acted  with  silent  and  effica- 
cious force  to  raise  all  to  comfortable  living,  and  many  to 
high  rank  in  their  calling.  There,  too,  were  genuine  homes, 
with  family  ties  so  strong  that  few  wandered  hopelessly  from 
their  attraction.  In  those  dwellings  by  the  sea  the  father 
was  honored  as  in  early  New  England,  and  the  mother  ruled 
with  a  gentle  but  undisputed  sway  —  far  worthier  of  woman 
than  to  vote  with  all  creation  and  be  decked  with  the  "semi- 
lunar-fardel  "  of  degrees. 

If  not  many  books  were  found  in  the  houses,  at  least  the 
poetry  and  essays  were  of  severer  taste  than  most  of  the 
authors  who  now  usurp  the  place  of  Milton  and  Johnson 
and  Addison.  From  earliest  times  the  people  maintained 
their  schools,  and  it  would  have  been  hard  to  meet  in  Yar- 
mouth or  Dennis  any  wholly  illiterate.  So,  too,  they  sup- 
ported their  churches,  listened  attentively  to  preaching  and 
discussed  the  doctrine  in  intermission,  as  was  the  wont  of 
their  fathers  before  them.  Here,  too,  lingered  the  blessed 
heritage  from  the  Puritans  —  the  Sabbath  —  and  from  many 
a  family  altar  ascended  unfailingly  the  offering  of  prayer. 
But  my  "  Sentiment"  is  too  long  and  I  must  stop,  though  it 
is  tempting  to  dwell  on  scenes  and  persons  of  Yarmouth  and 
Dennis  in  those  past  years. 

Perhaps  this  view  has  been  a  little  too  rose-colored.  If 
so,  it  must  be  pardoned  to  loving  memories. 

May  God's  blessing  ever  rest  on  these  ancient  towns ! 

Thatcher  Thayer. 


114 

Mr.  E.  D.  Payne  then  called  for  three  cheers  for  the 
President,  which  was  responded  to  with  enthusiasm. 

Thus  closed  the  exercises  at  the  tent,  and  the  assembly 
quietly  dispersed.  Many  embraced  the  opportunity  to  re- 
visit the  scenes  of  their  childhood  and  to  renew  the  friend- 
ship of  days  gone  by.  It  was  a  frequent  remark  that  the 
occasion  had  been  in  all  respects  most  enjoyable,  a  red- 
letter  day  in  the  history  of  the  town.  No  disorderly  con- 
duct was  observed  during  the  day,  nor  the  slightest  appear- 
ance of  drunkenness. 

In  the  evening  a  grand  reception  and  ball  were  held  at 
the  Nobscussett  House,  Dennis.  The  house  was  tastefully 
decorated  with  flags  and  pendants,  and  brilliantly  lighted  for 
the  occasion,  the  arrangements  being  carried  out  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  John  Simpkins,  Mr.  Albert  C.  Snow  being 
floor  director.  The  Boston  Cadet  Orchestra,  Mr.  J.  T.  Bald- 
win, director,  furnished  the  music  for  the  evening.  The 
occasion  was  greatly  enjoyed  by  the  large  company  present, 
the  most  delightful  feature  of  it  being  the  reunion  of  old 
friends  and  acquaintances. 


A  display  of  fireworks,  in  both  towns  during  the  evening, 
formed  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the  celebration.  Those  in 
Yarmouth  were  exhibited  in  the  vicinity  of  the  tent,  those 
in  Dennis  at  the  Nobscussett  House.  They  were  furnished 
by  the  Unexcelled  Fireworks  Company  of  New  York  under 
the  direction  of  Mr.  Alfred  Gorham,  and  consisted  of  bombs, 
rockets,  red  and  green  fire,  variegated  batteries,  geysers,  with 
two  set  pieces,  one  of  which  displayed  the  motto  "  Yarmouth 
1639  —  1889  "  with  sunfire  effects  and  fireworks  whistles, 
winding  up  with  a  large  set  piece,  with  the  motto  "  Good 
Night,"  with  beautiful  combinations. 


Thus  ended  the  Quarto-Millenial  of  the  old  town,  to  be 
ever  after  enshrined  among  the  most  delightful  memories  of 
those  who  participated  in  it.     Most  of  the  next  day  the  flags 


115 

spanned  the  streets,  and  the  buildings  retained  their  gay 
holiday  attire  as  if  loath  to  resume  the  plain  work-day  garb. 
The  photographer  was  busy  at  many  points,  and  thus  we 
are  enabled  to  reproduce  to  some  extent  a  picture  of  character- 
istic scenes  for  the  benefit  of  many  whose  hearts  were  there, 
but  who  were  prevented  from  being  present.  And  if,  in 
turning  from  the  heroic  scenes  of  the  earlier  times  to  the 
quieter  tasks  of  the  present,  a  tinge  of  disappointment  comes 
over  us,  we  may  console  ourselves  with  the  truth, 

"Tl\e  fathers  sleep,  but  n\er\  reir\air\ 
Rs  -Wise,  as  true,  ai\d  brave  as  tt\ey  ; 

Wl\y  cour\t  tl\e  loss  ai\d  r\ot  tl\e  gair\  ? 
Ti\e  best  is  trjat  -we  i\ave  to-day." 


* 


^ 


VIEWS 


—  IN  — 


YA^JVlOUTfi  m  DEfJjWS. 


THE  TENT. 


ARCH   AND  HALLETT   HOUSE. 


THE  OLD   CHURCH. 


The  Mill-Pond  and  Bay  taken  from  near  the  site  where 
Giles  Hopkins  built  the  first  house  erected  in  Yarmouth. 


t  4     1      **''*?£$'  Jfi 

i  pirsf/j 

I  -1?   I 

III 

||||]2^ 

Q$l$M]j 

,.. 

■HBaai 

THE  THACHER  HOMESTEAD,    BUILT   IN   1680. 


A  MODERN   COTTAGE. 


THE  CHANDLER   GRAY   HOUSE. 


UK, 


Indian  Monument  erected  by  Dr.  Azariah  Eldridge, 
on  the  border  of  Long  Pond,  South  Yarmouth. 


THE   STURGIS  HOUSE. 


J 


r 


n 

m 


j 


AN  INTERIOR  OF   1750. 


A    CRANBERRY    BOG. 


Wind-Mill.— Built  for  Thomas  Greenough  in  1779. 
Located  on  the  North  Side  of  Yarmouth,  afterward  re- 
moved to  the  mouth  of  Bass  River;  again  removed  to 
its  present  location  at  Friends'  Village. 


The  Homestead  of  Enoch  E.  Chase;  was  first  built  in 
Marston's  Mills  about  the  year  1750,  and  was  moved  to 
West  Yarmouth  about  1768,  by  Thomas  Black.  It  was 
bought  by  Anthony  Chase  in  1781,  and  bequeathed  to 
his  son,  Enoch  E.  Chase,  who  was  born  March  4,  1804,  and 
died  in  the  same  room  in  which  he  was  born,  August  21, 1887. 


Salt-Mill.— South   Yarmouth.     Built  during  the 
War  of  1812. 


Salt-Works. — South  Yarmouth.     Built  during  the 
War  of  1812. 


Grist-Mill  in  West  Yarmouth.    Built  about  1775  and 
now  owned  by  the  heirs  of  Joshua  Baker. 


Howes  House,  Dennis,  built  about  1700  by  Prince  Howes, 
grandson  of  the  first  Thomas  Howes  and  also  grandson  of 
Gov.  Thomas  Prince. 


Hall  House,  Dennis,  built  about  1700  by  Joseph  Hall,  and 
owned  by  the  Hall  family  since  its  erection. 


This  house  was  built  by  Rev.  Josiah  Dennis,  for  whom  the 
town  was  named,  about  1735. 


Sears  House,  East  Dennis.    It  was  built  in  1711,  by  Capt. 
John  Sears,  and  has  been  in  the  Sears  family  ever  since. 


147 
APPENDIX. 


REPORT   OF  THE  COMMITTEE  PRESENTED  TO   THE    TOWN 
FEBRUARY  10,    1890. 

Your  Committee  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following 
statement  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  attending  the 
celebration  of  the  250th  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the 
town  : 

The   Treasurer   has   received   cash   from  the  town  of  Yar- 
mouth,     -----  $1000.00 
Contributions  from  individuals  in  Dennis,            -  492.00 
From  other  sources,   -----     150.65 

Total  receipts,        -  $1,642.65 

The  expenses  of  the  Celebration  were,         -  $1,423.42 

There  has  been  paid  on  account  of  printing  the 

pamphlet  report  of  the  Celebration,  -       $103.50 

Leaving  balance  of  cash  on  hand,      -  -  -    115.73 

There  is  also  an  account  due  the  Treasurer  of      -  8.75 

To  illustrate  and  to  print  the  remaining  portions  of  the 
pamphlet  it  will  require  some  $300.  Individuals  have  agreed 
to  advance  any  sums  that  may  be  called  for  in  addition  to 
the  money  already  in  the  Treasurer's  hands.  Should  the 
sale  of  the  pamphlets  not  be  sufficient  to  repay  the  individ- 
uals the  sums  that  they  have  advanced  they  will  make  no 
call  on  the  town  for  such  advances. 

The  Committee  ask  to  be  continued  and  report  at  some 
future  meeting  of  the  town. 

H.  C.  Thacher,  Chairman,  for  the  Committee. 

The  report  was  accepted  and  the  committee  continued. 

On  a  motion  made  by  Hon.  Henry  G.  Crowell,  the 
town  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  chairman  for  his  efficient 
services,  and  to  the  citizens  of  Dennis,  for  their  co-operation 
in  the  celebration. 


